How ex-Gov Lamido battled to get bail

After four days of incarceration, a magistrate court sitting in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, on Thursday granted the state’s former governor, Sule Lamido, bail on self recognition.

Lamido’s bail came despite a desperate plea by prosecutor Ikenna Ekpunobi, who told Magistrate Muhammed Lamin that the accused should not be granted.

He had argued that if granted bail, the former governor could jeopardise peace in the state.

Magistrate Lamin, disagreed with the counsel as well as refuted a report by the police allegedly linking Lamido to violence by his supporters.

In response to the prosecutor’s prayer, counsel to Lamido, Felix John, said that his client remained innocent until proven guilty, adding that evidence tendered in respect to why the former governor is being tried was only a documentary and as such there was no witness.

He further argued that Lamido, as a former governor could never jump bail.

In his ruling, Magistrate Lamin held that the charge of inciting violence against the former Jigawa governor was bail-able.

He added that there is “no evidence before the court that if the accused person is granted bail he will jump bail and no evidence other people will commit similar offense and that the accused will jeopardise peace of the state.”

Following a petition on alleged inciting statement, Lamido was arrested on Sunday and his homes in Kano and Jigawa raided.

Lamido and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had described the charges leveled against him by the state All Progressives Congress (APC) led government i the state as fabricated and claimed that it was politically motivated.

Lamido is among opposition politicians said to be gearing up to contest for the office of the president in 2019 general elections.

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