A Chief Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has granted bail to two pilots of Caverton Helicopters, Samuel Ugorji and Samuel Buhari. The p
A Chief Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has granted bail to two pilots of Caverton Helicopters, Samuel Ugorji and Samuel Buhari. The pilots were accused by the State Government of contravening the Executive Order of Governor Nyesom Wike, issued to check the spread of coronavirus in the State. The Court also granted bail to 10 passengers flown into Rivers by Caverton Helicopters’ pilots.
The magistrate, in granting the two pilots bail, said they must present a surety who must be management staff of Caverton Helicopters. The Court ruled that the surety must own a landed property in Port Harcourt and must ensure that the two pilots attended trial. He added that the surety would sign a bail bond of N1 million each for the two pilots. The magistrate adjourned the matter to May 19, 2020 for trial.
For the passengers, the Court ruled that they should present two sureties who must be management staff of Carverton Helicopters and that they must sign bail bond of N500,000 for each of the passengers, as well as undertake to bring the accused persons for trial.
They were arrested at the Air Force Base, Port Harcourt after the Rivers State Police Command received intelligence on their illegal flight into the State. The 10 passengers who were granted bail include:
- NWOGU CHIBUNA ‘M’, AGED 39YRS
- PETER MICHAEL ‘M’AGED 43YRS
- AJAGBA IHEAYNI ‘M’ AGED 35YRS
- EKPEREWECHI OGUGUO ‘M’AGED 43YRS
- NSIKAN PIUS ‘M’ AGED 38YRS
- ABANOBI CHINOSO ‘M’AGED 27YRS
- UDOH HAGAN ‘M’AGED 28YRS
- OKACHUKWU CHUKS ‘M’ AGED 41YRS
- GODDY CHUKWU ‘M’AGED 42YRS
- OOMERURIKE CHIJIOKE ‘M’AGED 43YRS
Attorney-General of Rivers State, Adangor said it must be noted that Rivers State Government was not interested in the persecution of the defendants, hence it did not oppose the bail application.
