Despite being granted bail on Monday, political activist, Deji Adeyanju is unfortunately still in jail and this may not be unconnected to the ethical
Despite being granted bail on Monday, political activist, Deji Adeyanju is unfortunately still in jail and this may not be unconnected to the ethical misconduct on the part of the registrar of Kano State High Court. The registrar, Balarabe Adamu was said to have absconded from the court on Thursday afternoon when documents clearing Deji Adeyanju as having met his bail conditions were brought in, thereby stalling his release.
“The court granted Deji Adeyanju bail with terms that he must provide two sureties who have land assets in Kano State, as well as submit his international passport. Those conditions were met on Thursday afternoon, including the verification of assets, despite “harrowing hurdles” that had to be crossed. Apparently, they thought that we would not be able to meet the conditions within a few days because it usually takes at least 10 days to verify such properties. We were, however, able to fast track it and got it done within 72 hours between Monday and Thursday,” Mr Atoye Adeyanju’s friend said.
Mr Atoye said he had two telephone calls at separate hours preceding the submission of the documents in court, and Mr Adamu confirmed that he was in court to receive them.
“We learnt from people in court that he ‘fled’ to avoid submitting the documents to the judge yesterday. He added that when they gave the documents to the judge, he declined to sign a warrant for Mr Adeyanju’s release from prison unless the registrar was present,” Mr Atoye said.
The registrar could neither confirm nor deny whether he fled from the court as part of an alleged conspiracy to frustrate release of Mr Adeyanju from prison.
Haruna Magacci, Mr Adeyanju’s lawyer in Kano, confirmed that all the assets had been verified at the state’s land bureau and submitted to the court on Thursday.
“But when we arrived at the court to present the documents, the registrar had closed even though the judge was still in the chambers,” Mr Magacci said.
Recall that the police arrested Deji Adeyanju on December 13, accusing him of being a suspect in a 2005 murder case in Kano. The police had called on him to report to their office. But once he arrived at the FCT Command Headquarters, he was held for five days without bail. He was later transferred to Kano to answer charges for alleged involvement in a deadly attack on a Kano businessman in January 2005. But the police did not file charges against him there.
Instead, they asked a magistrate who admitted lacking jurisdiction to hear murder allegations to remand him in Kano Central Prison near the Emir Palace, where he had remained for 71 days and counting. According to PREMIUM TIMES, Adeyanju was charged with murder in a trial that lasted from mid-2005 until 2009. But the activist was discharged and acquitted, alongside his co-defendants. Festus Keyamo, a rights lawyer who represented Mr Adeyanju in the case, said authorities did not appeal the judgement because they were also satisfied that Mr Adeyanju was not involved in the murder.
Mr Atoye and other friends of Mr Adeyanju said the Nigerian government ‘hatched’ the plot to pick Mr Adeyanju on a matter in which he had been discharged because of his activism.
“Deji Adeyanju is arguably the most vigorous activist to confront the Buhari regime and its many democratic failings. But their plan to keep him in custody using all evil and extralegal machinations has become too glaring to Nigerians and they will respond accordingly at the poll on Saturday,” Atoye said.
