Lagos High Court Dismisses Orji Kalu’s Post-conviction Bail Application

Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, December 23, 2019, dismissed an application for a post-conviction bail filed by a convicted former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu. Justice Liman dismissed the application for lacking in merit and also ordered Kalu to remain in the Correctional (Prison) Custody till his appeal is heard. Kalu had, on Tuesday, December 17, 2019, filed the application, following his conviction and sentencing to 12 years imprisonment for N7.1bn fraud by Justice Muhammed Idris sitting at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos on December 5, 2019. In the application, Kalu, through his lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, had claimed that he had health challenges that could not be managed by the medical facilities in the Custodial Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos. He had also argued that the offences for which he was convicted and jailed were bailable. However, counsel to the respondent, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, had opposed the application for post-conviction bail, saying, “Although bail is generally a right of an accused as guaranteed by the Constitution, it is not a right available to a convict because the presumption of innocence had crystallized into guilt and conviction.