Maurice Iwu’s bail terms are difficult to fulfill— Lawyer

A legal Practitioner and Managing Partner of Adulbert Legal Services, Abuja, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor has faulted the bail terms a Lagos High Court, last Friday, granted former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu, describing the terms as “unreasonable, excessive, impossible and potentially unconstitutional.”

Ejimakor, in his reaction to the court ruling, which he sent to The Guardian, yesterday, said the bail terms were also “unrealisable or impossible to meet.”

Iwu is facing charges brought by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over alleged money laundering. Following his application for bail, the court granted it with N1bn and two sureties in like sum, imposing that one of the  sureties must be a civil servant or a professor, who must demonstrate a credit bank balance of, at least, N1bn.

According to Ejimakor, “The right to bail is constitutionally guaranteed under Sections 35(1) and 36(5) of the Nigerian Constitution. The basic parameter as set out in subsidiary legislations and quantum court decisions is that bail ‘shall be fixed with due regard to the circumstances of the case and shall not be excessive.’ The operative word here is ‘excessive’, which is clearly present in Iwu’s case.”

He added that it amounted to implausibleness that a civil servant or a professor would have a bank balance of NIbn, unless he inherited it or won the lottery.