Apugo pleaded not guilty to the charges
prompting the prosecution led by Joshua Saidu to apply for a trial date while praying that the defendant be remanded in prison
custody pending trial.
But
the defence counsel, R.M Udechukwu (SAN) pleaded with the court to
allow the accused to continue with the administrative bail granted him
by EFCC. He had unsuccessfully argued against the arraignment of his
client based on a purported pending appeal, challenging the jurisdiction
of court.
The court however granted
the defendant bail in the sum of N10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira Only) and two sureties in
like sum. The two Sureties, the court insists must be senior civil servants not
less than deputy director with one of them having a landed property within
Umuahia metropolis who must deposit the title documents with the court
registrar.
The
judge further directed that both counsel, together with the court registrar ,shall
also verify the sureties and ordered Chief Apugo to be remanded in prison
custody pending fulfilment of bail conditions.
Earlier, Apugo had stormed the court with
several security vehicles and not less than six armed mobile policemen from the
Special Protection Units of the Nigeria Police, a development prompting the
judge to demand that they move out of the court premises citing security
concerns.
Chief Apugo’s arraignment was sequel to his
arrest on Friday September 30,
2016 by EFCC following a warrant issued by the court which considered his
numerous attempt to evade taking a plea on the charge preferred against him. He
was alleged to have fraudulently sold six
(6) plots of land valued at N36.000,000 (Thirty Six Million Naira Only) belonging to the Nigeria Railway Cooperation
located at Umunwulari Nkata Ibeku layout, Planning Scheme Umuahia.
The matter
has been adjourned to 17th and 18th November for trial.
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