John Abebe, the younger brother of the late Stella Obasanjo, spouse of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been granted bail over alleged four million dollars fraud.
Justice Mojisola Dada of the Ikeja Special Offences Court in Lagos granted the bail on Thursday.
Abebe is facing a four-count charge of forgery, fabricating evidence, using fabricated evidence and attempt to pervert the cause of justice.
The charges were slammed on him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
But Abebe denied the charges during his arraignment on 26 July and was remanded for a week at the Ikoyi Prisons by Justice Dada.
Abebe’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN), at Thursday’s bail proceedings, said the judge should consider Abebe’s high status in the society and that the defendant in a bid to absolve himself of the charges had hired the services of four Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
He said, “My Lord, the fact that the defendant has taken the trouble to hire the services of the calibre of counsel here shows that he is not interested in jumping bail.”
But the EFCC lawyer disagreed with him.
Babatunde Sonoiki, in an application supported by an 8-paragraph affidavit, said Abebe should face justice irrespective of his status.
“Every citizen of Nigeria is being called before the law and before the law there is no high profile or low profile person, justice is blind,” he told the court.
In her ruling, Justice Dada noted that documents before her revealed that investigations had been concluded in the case.
Thereafter, the judge said that the chances of interference in the proceedings from the defendant were low.
“In view of the facts before the court, I hereby grant the defendant bail upon the submission of his international passport to the court registrar with one substantial surety,” she said.
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