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Representative of Plateau North senatorial district, Jonah David Jang, was yesterday granted bail by a Plateau State High Court but he expressed disappointment at the nation’s weak legal system.
Jang, who was former Governor of Plateau State, lamented that he was detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for over a week and deprived of his fundamental right to personal freedom and association.
His words: “If the laws of our country are still potent under the current circumstances, my detention constitutes a gross abuse of the fundamental rights guaranteed me as a law-abiding citizen as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
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“Where the constitution provides for an accused person to be charged to court within one day, I was held by the EFCC for over a week in flagrant disregard to the letters and spirit of the supreme document, which legitimises the very existence of our country. My lawyers have instituted a case at the FCT High Court and I shall pursue it to its logical conclusions.”
Meanwhile, a the Court warned journalists covering its proceedings to be accurate and objective in their reports.
This followed the bail Justice Daniel Longji, granted Jang with stringent conditions.
Longji faulted reporters’ verbatim quotation of what he said, adding: “If you are quoting what I have said verbatim, then it must be accurate. Nothing should be added and nothing should be subtracted.”
He said he was quoted out of context when he talked about the law being an ass, asking that he should not be quoted out of context next time.
Longji also admitted since he reserved Jang’s bail application to yesterday, he had been accosted and bombarded that the federal might was behind the adjournment of his bail issue, saying: “I am neither for the government nor the accused. I am for justice and that is all.”
