Tell EFCC to release me - Bala Mohammed

Sen. Bala Mohammed

An Abuja high court on Monday fixed November 24 for hearing in a motion on notice filed by former FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for alleged violation of his fundamental right.

Mr. Mohammed, former minister under ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, had been in the custody of the EFCC since October 25 following petitions against him.

The former minister, through his counsel, Chris Uche, brought a motion of violation of fundamental human right against EFCC for detaining him for four weeks.

He also sought the order of the court for EFCC to release him on bail and also to award N100 million damages against EFCC.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, Mr. Uche told the court that his client had been in custody of the EFCC for four weeks now.

He also sought the order of the court for EFCC to release him on bail and also to award N100 million damages against EFCC.

Mr. Uche then prayed the court to attend to the matter urgently, noting that motion for the enforcement of his client’s fundamental right was filed on November 16.

The prosecuting counsel, Rimamsomte Ezekiel, informed the court that the applicant was in the custody of the EFCC following an order of an FCT high court on November 9.

He said the order would expire on November 23 and that the applicant was detained because he was jeopardising investigation.

Mr. Ezekiel said that the applicant was being investigated on many petitions against him on several financial and fictitious contracts he signed while in office.

After hearing the submissions from the counsel, Mr. Baba-Yusuf adjourned until
November 24 to hear the motion, if the applicant is not released on bail before then.

(NAN)