An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Wednesday granted bail to the 12 applicants arrested by the State Security Service (SSS), during a raid on the Ibadan residence of freedom fighter Sunday “Igboho” Adeyemo on July 1.

Counsel to SSS, I. Awo had told the court on the last adjourned date that some of the names of the persons arrested were different from the ones on the court order.

Counsel to the applicants, Pelumi Olajengbesi, then applied for leave of court to enable him correct the names and amend court processes which was granted by the presiding judge, Obiora Egwuatu.

At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the 12 applicants were present in court with one of them limping as he could not walk without help from another applicant.

The corrected names of those arrested included Abdullateef Ademola Onaolapo, Amudat Habibat Babatunde, Tajudeen Irinloye, Diekola Jubril Ademola, Abideen Shitu, Jamiu Noah Oyetunji, Ayobami Donald, Uthman Opeyemi Adelabu, Olakunle Oluwapelumi, Raji Kazeem, Taiwo Opeyemi Tajudeen and Bamidele Sunday.

Mr Olajengbesi presented the amended motion ex-parte, pursuant to the court order made on August 2. He told the court that the court order for the remand of applicants in SSS custody expired on August 2. He then prayed the court to grant bail to the applicants.

“There will be no need leaving the applicants in custody of the respondents,” Mr Olajengbesi said.

Mr Awo opposed the bail of four out of the 12 applicants. According to him, the involvement of the eight others was minimal. He went further to submit an oral application for the further remand of the four applicants for another 14 days.

“On the issue of bail, we will not be opposing bail to the following applicants: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th applicants. This is because, so far, investigation conducted by the respondent revealed that the level of their involvement in the offense are minimal,” Mr Awo said.

“The fear of the respondent is that those four applicants, if granted bail won’t present themselves for investigation and possible prosecution. We seriously believe that it is not in the interest of justice and it won’t serve purpose of national security for these four applicants to be granted bail,” he added.

Mr Olajengbesi opposed the oral application arguing that the applicants should have been charged after 24 hours in detention and keeping them is against the Constitution and an infringement of their fundamental human rights. He then prayed the court to deny the oral application made by Mr Awo.

“It will be a debt on our constitution for the respondent to take advantage of this court and continue to oppress and suppress the applicant. We pray this court to discountenance the position of the respondents because it is not known to any law. We pray this honourable court, that the oral application should be denied,” Mr Olajengbesi said.

Mr Awo when closing his argument, cited Sunday Igboho’s leaving the country as an example and asked the court to grant him an order to further remand the four applicants.

“The leader of the applicants is currently standing trial. He was declared wanted by the Service, rather than turning himself in, he decided to leave the shores of the country. There is no guaranty that this four applicants will not follow suit,” Mr Awo said.

“We pray the court to make a specific order for the four respondents, to keep them for another 14 days during which we believe investigation will be concluded,” he added.

Mr Olajengbesi then argued that the applicants have been in detention for 34 days against the provisions of the Constitution.

He further argued that it will be a dent on the Constitution for the respondent to take advantage of the court to suppress the liberty of the applicant who are in court to secure their liberty.

“Investigation cannot be indefinite. The respondents do not need 34 days to investigate a person claimed be found with firearms. In the interest of justice, the 12 applicants should be allowed to go in peace and enjoy the benefit of the Constitution as the respondent has not showed any charge or reasonable intention to prosecute them,” Mr Olajengbesi said.

“We shall ensure on our part as legal practitioners, that a reasonable surety will be provided and the applicants will be made available for trial. In view of this, we pray this court to admit the 12 applicants on bail unconditionally,” he added.

Justice Obiora Egwuatu in his ruling granted bail to the 12 Applicants with conditions.

All applicants are to remain with SSS until bail conditions are met. The four applicants were granted bail with a bond of N10 million with two sureties each who must be a federal government employee resident in Abuja with evidence of three year tax.

The names of the four applicants who will pay a fine of 10 million included Amudat Habibat Babatunde, Abideen Shitu, Jamiu Noah Oyetunji and Bamidele Sunday.

The other eight others were granted bail on a bond of N5 million with one surety each.