BY OLA AJAYI
IBADAN—The ruling on application for bail filed by the detained Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, over alleged felony and killing of a factional Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW,  Alhaji Lateef Salako, a.k.a Eleweomo has been adjourned to Monday.

Senator Folarin has been detained in Agodi Prisons  for a week now over the alleged murder of the union chairman during the PDP local government congress held two weeks ago.

At the hearing of the arguments of counsels to both parties in the Oyo State High Court, Justice Ladapo Abimbola, said he needed to carefully study the submissions of the counsel and said he would come up with the ruling on Monday, 17th January, 2011.

Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, and about 20 others including Chief Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, are holding brief for the embattled senator, while Chukwuma Ekomaru, SAN, is standing for the Attorney General, Commissioner of Police and others.

The case had earlier been stood down for about three hours to allow the judge to look into the counter affidavit filed the police and the state.

While arguing the case in a crowded courtroom, Akeredolu dismissed claims of the respondents, saying they made no reference to any of the four separate affidavits in the summons of bail and this, he said, was fatal to the case.

He wondered why a legal officer who is not a member of the NURTW could depose to such an affidavit.

Puncturing all the 30 paragraphs one after the other, he said, the principal legal officer was not at the scene of the offence.

He said, “you cannot make such deposition. What is the source of your information, time and space? Some of them are conclusion and some are arguments. If he has decided that, what is left for the court of law? It is unfortunate that a legal officer made such a blanket deposition”.

Citing NEC vs Izuogwu (1993), 3 NWLR part 275 at pg.270 particularly at 286-287, he said the counter affidavits contained some extraneous materials which contravened the law,  adding that it was presumptuous for a legal officer to pronounce somebody guilty.

The counter affidavit, he said was worthless, defective and the court should not rely on it.

He said to justify the incarceration of the applicant, there should be credible proof and information that he had actually committed the offence, but, he argued the respondents did not include any proof and urge the court not to follow a false god.

Akeredolu said: “I would have asked your lordship to give bench ruling, but I would not say so. There is nothing to prove. What is important in granting a bail is attendance. Would the applicant run away? The most important thing is to ensure presence of the accused. In Dokubo Asari vs FG(2007) 12 NWLR part 1048 at pg.320 particularly at 362-363, the affidavit in support of this summon for bail is his position in the country.

The way we are now, the hand of your lordship is tied by law. I take it that there is no charge before you. He is a senator of the Federal republic of Nigeria and he carries the name for life. Presently, he is a Senate leader, after the deputy , he is number three man in Senate. Senator Folarin is someone whose attendance would be ensured if granted bail. It is only we are not yet advanced, I would have said tag him. Wikileaks, when granted bail, was wearing a band on his hand”.

“The senate leader is not likely to jump bail. There is no likelihood that the accused would interfere with the course of justice and there is no likelihood that the applicant would commit any offence while on bail and coupled with the fact that they were not arrested but submitted themselves to the police, they should be granted bail”, he said.

He also made a case that his health was so important and that a paragraph in the counter affidavit that there would be adequate care for his health could not be relied upon.

But, Counsel to the respondents, Mr. Ekomaru objected to granting the accused persons bail.

He itemized all the principles of law that should be carefully looked into before a bail could be granted any accused person.
These include, nature of the charge, severity of the offence, criminal record of the accused, likelihood of replication of the offence, probability that the accused may not surrender themselves for justice and the risk that if released, may interfere with witnesses or suppress the evidence likely to incriminate them.

He said there was no mincing the word that the nature of the offence was murder and the severity was punishment by death if convicted.
Ekomaru argued that the police were still looking for other suspects who are at large and that police were yet to obtain information from other victims of the alleged attack because they were still in the hospital recovering.

“ I don’t advise you to grant bail on this controversial case. If granted, he said it would amount to adding illegality to impunity. “A man who is in custody should thank God because his is in a protective custody. It would be foolhardy to grant the accused bail because the incident and the wound it has inflicted is still fresh”, he said.