ASP Abua, an ex-member of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), is facing an eight-count charge of drug trafficking filed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
By Jeffrey Agbo
Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, on Friday, refused an application to grant bail to a detained Assistant Commissioner of Police (ASP), Sunday Ubua, who is facing drug trafficking charges.
ASP Abua, an ex-member of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), is facing an eight-count charge of drug trafficking filed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
He is facing trial alongside a detained Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, who hitherto headed the IRT, and three other police officers – ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu.
The defendants were accused of tampering with 21.25 kilograms worth of cocaine that was seized from two convicted drug peddlers – Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne.
They were further accused of dealing in cocaine worth 17.55kg.
The NDLEA alleged that the police officers committed the offence between January 19 and 25, 2022, at the office of Inspector-General of Police (IGP) IRT, Abuja, in connivance with one ASP John Umoru (now at large), contrary to section 14(b) of the NDLEA Act, CAP N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
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Trial Justice Emeka Nwike had denied bail to all the defendants, who pleaded not guilty to the charges and remanded them in prison custody, pending the conclusion of their trial.
Dissatisfied with the ruling the trial court delivered on March 28, 2022, which dismissed his request for bail, ASP Abua took his case to the Court of Appeal.
In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel on Friday, the appellate court dismissed the appeal for want of merit.
In its lead judgement that was read by Justice Stephen Adah, the appellate court held that the appellant placed no new materials before the court to warrant it to depart from the earlier decision of the trial court.
It held that there was equally no exceptional circumstance to warrant the appellate court to set aside Justice Nwite’s ruling that denied the appellant and his co-defendants bail.
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