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The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has reserved judgment in former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s appeal challenging the refusal of his bail application by the Kaduna State High Court.
A three-member panel led by Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi reserved judgment on Tuesday after hearing arguments from counsel representing El-Rufai and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
While the ICPC urged the appellate court to dismiss the appeal, arguing that El-Rufai had previously had three bail applications rejected, his counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, asked the court to overturn the lower court’s decision and grant his client bail.
Erokoro argued that the offences against the former governor were bailable and not capital offences, adding that his continued detention was hampering his access to lawyers and witnesses and affecting the preparation of his defence.
The ICPC, however, maintained that the appeal lacked merit and that El-Rufai had failed to disclose that a third bail application had also been rejected by the trial court.
The appellate court did not announce a date for the delivery of its judgment.
