A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday granted detained activist and social media commentator, Justice Chidiebere popularly known as “Justice Crack”, a bail in the sum of five million naira.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, while ruling on the bail application filed by one of the defence counsels to the activist, Femi Balogun, ordered that the bail bond must be backed by one surety in like sum.
The squabble between previous counsel of the defendant, Marshal Abubakar and the new counsel, Balogun, over who would lead the team, stalled the bail last Thursday.
Chidiebere was arrested on April 28 by officers of the Nigerian Army after leaving home for what he told his wife was a meeting, shortly after receiving a phone call.
He was subsequently arrested and held incommunicado for four days over allegedly criticism of the Nigerian Army’s feeding arrangements.
The Army, while confirming his arrest, claimed that following preliminary investigations into his interactions with serving soldiers, his alleged offence bordered on subversion.
Army spokesman, Appolonia Anele, noted that Chidiebere initially came under scrutiny after sharing posts highlighting complaints by soldiers over feeding and welfare.
The activist had since been handed over to the Department of State Services (DSS) for further investigation and arraignment after which the court remanded him in custody over the viral video.
The activist was later arraigned on charges said to border on cyber-related offences.
Ruling on his bail application on Monday, the court held that the proposed surety must reside within the jurisdiction of the court at a fixed address for at least four years.
The court added that the surety must deposit proof of residence, either through a tenancy agreement or certificate of occupancy, at the court registry.
The surety is also required to be a federal civil servant not below grade level fifteen, with evidence of at least three months’ salary, a letter of authentication from the immediate head of department, as well as proof of pensionable employment.
The court further directed that the surety must depose to an affidavit of means, submit a recent passport photograph, while the defendant is to deposit his international passport with the court.
Earlier, the prosecution counsel informed the court that the prosecution was ready to commence trial.
The first prosecution witness, identified as Uruntu Douglas, a DSS operative, told the court that he came to know the defendant during investigations after he was transferred to the DSS by the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps.
The witness said the defendant voluntarily made an extra-judicial statement which was recorded in the presence of his lawyers.
According to the witness, soldiers had sent pictures to the defendant, who allegedly made videos from the images and posted them on social media without confirming the authenticity of the materials from military sources.
He further told the court that investigators extracted data from the defendant’s phone, including videos allegedly posted online, conversations between the defendant and some soldiers, chats with his godfather allegedly discussing protests, as well as excerpts from his social media pages.
The witness added that a certificate of compliance was issued and signed by a superior officer after the forensic process was concluded.
During proceedings, defence counsel, Sam Amadi, who was accompanied by Balogun, informed the court that the defence had not been served with the investigation report and other documents sought to be tendered by the prosecution.
The prosecution, however, described the failure as an oversight and apologised before the court.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik subsequently admitted the DSS investigation report as Exhibit A.
The prosecution also tendered an iPhone allegedly recovered from the defendant, a flash drive said to contain videos posted on social media platforms, conversations extracted from the device, and the certificate of compliance.
The defence objected to the admissibility of the flash drive, arguing that its contents had not been described or played before the court.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the case to May 25, for continuation of trial, with the first prosecution witness yet to be discharged.
