Chidi Lloyd Granted N10M Bail

A Port Harcourt High Court Wednesday has granted bail to Chidi Lloyd who is standing trial on a six count charge which include conspiracy to murder after 15 days of incarceration. The Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd walked out of the Port Harcourt maximum security prisons at about 4:00pm Wednesday after he had fulfilled all the bail

conditions as directed by the Port Harcourt High Court .

Hundreds of his supporters thronged the prison yard in anticipation of his release. There was a joyous outburst as he walked out of the prisons.

This comes as the Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Worgu Boms, has advised the Police to arrest the following members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Evans Bipi (Ogu/Bolo Constituency); Victor Ihunwo (PHALGA Constituency III), Martins Amaewhule (Obio/Akpor Constituency I), Okechukwu Chinda (Obio/Akpor Constituency II) and Kelechi Nwogu (Omuma Constituency) for the role they played in the bloody confrontation that took place on the floor of the House on the 9th July.

Following an application for bail filed by Lloyd’s counsel Mr. Beluolisa Nwafor (SAN), the presiding judge, Justice L.L. Nyordee, after thorough legal scrutiny of the bail application which the prosecutor and the State Attorney General did not oppose, decided to grant bail to the lawmaker under stringent conditions.

Before granting Lloyd reprieve, Justice Nyordee observed that all the six count charges for which he is standing trial are criminal offences that are not punishable by death and are indeed bailable. According to him, even in a case when an offence is punishable by death, the court could still exercise its discretion to grant bail to an accused person pending the determination of the case. According to him, “the essence of bail is to grant the accused person temporary liberty to prepare for his defence.”

Justice Nyordee in granting Lloyd bail of N10 million, demanded that he deposit his international passport with the court and provide three sureties, who must be residents of Port Harcourt. The Judge said two of the sureties must deposit their photo passport with the court and must provide evidence that they own landed properties with certificate of occupancy in the State. Another condition of bail which the lawmaker must fulfill is that one of the surety must be a grade level 16 civil servant in the State who will have to provide a written letter from the head of his department.

After listening to the bail conditions which he applauded, lead counsel to the accused, appealed to the Judge to rescind the condition that Lloyd should deposit his international passport with the court. According to him, the request had become imperative to enable Lloyd travel aboard for medical treatment. The Judge however declined to grant the appeal.

Justice Nyordee has meanwhile fixed November 21, to hear the motion of notice filed by counsel to Lloyd..

In anticipation that he might fulfill all his bail conditions , some operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, laid ambush within the court premises in a bid to arrest Lloyd.

However, the inability of Lloyd to meet the bail conditions, thwarted the effort of the EFCC officials to arrest him as planned. And as he left the court premises, hundreds of youths from his constituency besieged the prisons vehicle that brought him to court as it drove off, in a bid to resist the EFCC attempt to arrest him.

Reacting to the EFCC plans to pick up Lloyd after the court granted him bail, the Attorney General urged the anti-graft agency to respect the subsisting court order that prohibits it from investigating the state finances.

Boms said the actions of the EFCC could be liken to a deliberate attempt to ridicule the country’s legal system.

“There are subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court that bar the EFCC from inquiring into the accounts of the Rivers State Government. it will be better if the EFCC should respect the laws of our land. This approach to legal system ridicules the justice system” he added.