THE Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt has granted bail to a lawmaker, Farah Dagogo, after sixty days in detention.
Dagogo, a former governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who represents the Degema/Bonny federal constituency in the House of Representatives, was granted bail in the sum of N20 million following charges filed against him by the Rivers State government.
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Justice Chiwendu Nwogu, while granting the lawmaker bail in a ruling on Tuesday morning, also directed Dagogo to deposit his international passport and barred him from travelling outside the country without leave of the court.
Justice Nwogu ruled that the surety must be a citizen of Nigeria and an indigene of Rivers State who must have a registered document of title that resides within Rivers State and Port Harcourt metropolis.
He further ruled that the legal assistant of the court would verify the address of the surety, and both the defendant and the surety would tender two passport photographs each and evidence of three years tax clearance.
The judge, however, dismissed the insinuations which made the rounds that the court was deliberately denying Farah Dagogo bail, saying that the defendant’s lawyers constituted enemies to themselves by abusing the court process in their multiple actions.
The lawmaker was arrested when he appeared for screening at the PDP zonal office in Port Harcourt, a day after Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, declared him wanted.
Wike declared Dagogo wanted for the alleged instigation of “thugs” to disrupt activities at the PDP state secretariat along Aba road in Port Harcourt.
He was taken away at the screening hall of the South-South zonal office of the PDP during the party’s governorship screening in April.
A reporter with the ICIR
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