Court denies anti-Tinubu protester’s Bail Application Over Mental Health Test

A Magistrate Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has denied to grant to bail to Obiajulu Uja, a passenger debarked and handed over to the Police for making sensitive statement about Bola Tinubu, the President-elect, onboard on an Ibom Air Abuja-Lagos bound flight penultimate Friday..

Uja, having filed a bail application through his counsel, Mohammed Abdulazeez Ismail, sitting at Zuba, Abuja, held that the application was premature.

According to him, the exhibits attached to the application did not indicate that Uja was unfit to face trial but rather said he was of unsound mind. He held that while the constitution guarantees every person’s liberty, a court can deprive a person their liberty based on health grounds.

The Magistrate held that Uja cannot be granted bail citing the provisions of Section 35(1)(e) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and Section 278 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

He held that the exhibits attached to Uja’s bail application raised the issue of his medical capacity knowing fully well that where the mental capacity of a defendant is an issue, the court has the duty to ascertain the medical situation of such a defendant

He ordered that Uja be held at the Kuje Correctional centre of Nigerian Correctional Service having turned down the bail application. 

He then adjourned the matter to April 20 for report and or hearing after ordering the head of the centre to take the defendant to a government hospital to ascertain Uja’s mental capacity.