Court grants ex-VP’s son-in-law N20m bail

Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court, Lagos yesterday granted bail in the sum of N20 million to Abdulahi Babalele, son-in-law of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

The judgment was delivered following the hearing of the bail application filed by defence counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN).

The judge held: “Bail is granted in the sum of N20 million with one surety in like sum. The surety must be resident within the jurisdiction of this honourable court and have property within the jurisdiction of the court with passport photograph and address of the surety verified.

“The defendant’s passport shall be submitted to this court and pending fulfillment of bail terms, the defendant should be remanded in EFCC custody.”

Babalele was arraigned on Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a two-count charge of money laundering to the tune $140,000, an offence he was said to have committed in February this year.