Justice Maryam Aliyu Hassan of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting at Gwarimpa in Abuja has ordered that the former Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige be kept at Kuje prison until December 18.
Ngige will be on remand till the date when his bail application would be decided one way or the other.
Justice Hassan issued the order on Monday, December 15 shortly after taking arguments for and against the bail request of the former governor of Anambra state.
Ngige’s lawyer, Mr. Patrick Ikwueto (SAN) pleaded with the judge to admit the former Minister to bail for various reasons especially on health grounds.
He promised that the former Minister would not jump bail or interfere with witnesses if admitted to bail.
However, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) represented by Mr. Sylvanus Tahir (SAN) vehemently opposed the bail request, insisting that Ngige was a flight risk.
He told the judge that the defendant was granted administrative bail by EFCC and allowed to travel abroad for medical care but never reported back to EFCC.
Besides, he said the international passport released to him to facilitate the abroad trip was never returned till today.
The senior lawyer argued that it was when Ngige was re-arrested that he came up with a purported claims that he lost his passport.
Insisting that the claims of passport loss was an afterthought and should not be believed by the Court, Tahir urged the court to dismiss the bail request for being frivolous.
After the submissions, Justice Hassan fixed December 18 to deliver ruling on the bail request.
Persecondnews reported that Ngige was last Friday, December 12 slammed with an eight-count charge of corrupt practices.
The charge borders on abuse of office and the acceptance of gifts from contractors of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) while he served as the supervising minister from September 2015 to May 2023.
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