Security was tightened in the court premises when the police arraigned the 261 MASSOB members in court and slammed a four-count criminal charge on each of them.
Arguing the motion for bail, the defence counsel, Mr. Emmanuel Chukwuka, reminded the court that it was not the first time members of MASSOB were being arraigned in court for activities connected with their demand for the actualization of Biafra.
Assuring the court that no member of MASSOB would jump bail, Mr. Chukwuka also applied for what he called “a liberal bail condition, especially as the matter before the court was political.”
He further submitted that remanding the accused persons in prison custody might not only cause some element of uneasiness in the prison, also result in some administrative burden on prison authorities.
The police prosecutor, however, informed the court that only the 261 persons arraigned in court, out of the 300 arrested by the police, had completed the formalities prior to bringing them to court. In granting the defence counsel’s plea, the presiding Chief Magistrate ordered a surety of N200,000 for each of the accused persons and adjourned the matter to 18 July 2011.
Posted: at | |