By Ismail Omipidan
Nigerians recently woke up to a bizarre story of how an ex-Adamawa state governor, Bala James Ngilari, allegedly secured his bail from the prison, using a forged medical report, allegedly procured by the Yola prisons. The incident has since led to the suspension of the Yola prisons boss, who denied knowledge of the said document.
But speaking with Daily Sun through a telephone interview, Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Spain and lawyer to Ngilari, Obed Wadzani, revealed that the whole issues may have been misrepresented, insisting that there was nothing like forged medical report.
How did you secure the bail of former governor of Adamawa state, when he is supposed to be serving a jail term?
Let me say that I will restrict myself to the bail application because this matter is still in court. It is common knowledge that Bala James Ngilari was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Yola High Court 1. He filed a notice of appeal against that judgment and the law allows him to file an application for bail, pending his appeal and the law allows to first file that before the court that delivered that judgment, that is the High Court 1 in Yola.
It is only when the High Court 1 Yola refuses to grant him bail, then he has the option to still file similar application before the Court of Appeal. Now Bala James Ngilari filed his motion on notice on March 10 for bail pending before High Court 1 Yola. This motion was supported by affidavit deposed to by his wife and in this affidavit, the wife gave facts as to the health conditions of her husband, and attached medical records from different hospitals for a period of almost six years, some of them from Yola Specialist Hospital where they have been attending to him, others from Dubai, specialist hospital and some from hospitals in India. All these documents were attached to the application, in a bid to show to the court that Bala James Ngilari has been undergoing medical treatment truly.
The Attorney-General of Adamawa state and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) filed counter affidavits to the motion that was filed in court. First, they filed from the EFCC Gombe Zonal Office on March 20, a 15-paragraph counter affidavit, and on March 24, the Office of the Attorney-General of Adamawa state, this time, not being EFCC filed a 19-paragraph counter affidavit to the application before the Yola High Court 1. The court gave March 27 date for the hearing of the application for bail. Lawyers were in court, the judge sat on that day and it is normal that, the case was first on the Cause list, so it was called, but Bala James Ngilari was not in court so the judge asked parties and the Registrar informed the court that the applicant, Ngilari was not in court but that there was a letter from the Prison, so the judge caused the Registrar to read out the letter.
The letter was read in the open court, the Attorney-General of Adamawa state was seated in court, the EFCC lawyer from Gombe was seated in court, all of us lawyers and other interested members of the public that went to hear the case were there in court, when the letter was read.
What was the content of the letter and who wrote it?
The letter was written by the Prisons authority. And it was to explain the absence of Ngilari in court. Because a Production Warrant was sent to the Prison to produce him in court for that application, so the letter was to the effect that Prison Officials said ‘we cannot produce him because his health condition worsened’ and they gave explanations in that letter, and the judge asked the lawyers to the EFCC what he had to say, they said they don’t have objections, so we were allowed to move the application for bail. And bail in this kind of circumstances is not that of right because his right already has gone with the conviction. He is a convict in prison, and for you to get bail in that circumstances, the law expects you to disclose such circumstances that would warrant the court to exercise her discretion in your favour.
So arguments were presented, and at the end of the day, we argued that the lawyer that deposed to the counter affidavit from the Office of the Hon. Attorney-General is not a medical doctor that would have the knowledge of medicine to counter the medical reports that Bala James Ngilari attached to his application and the judge agreed that a lawyer cannot do that and he held that our affidavit in support deposed to by the wife of the applicant was unchallenged and that was enough special circumstance for him to exercise his discretion in granting the bail application and the bail was granted.
But thereafter, so many things just came up in the press, and I don’t believe that these reasons the press has been presenting are the reasons for the granting of the bail. The bail was granted on the basis of the application brought by Bala James Ngilari. The substance in the affidavit which EFCC and the Office of the Hon. Attorney-General of Adamawa state are aware, they were given the opportunity to oppose it, they did, but the court exercised her discretion and granted him bail. So I don’t think there should be this kind of unsubstantiated allegations.
What then led to the suspension of three officers of the Prisons?
I read in the papers that they were suspended, that they did not have the authority to write the letter. I would not speak for Prison officials, but the fact is that this letter is still in court, so all those that are interested can go to court and apply and have a certified copy of the letter so that you will know whether it is a medical report as alleged or not. But as far as I’m concerned, it was a letter in reply to a Production Warrant, explaining the absence of Bala James Ngilari in court. The letter was to the effect that, reference to the Production Warrant, they would not be able to produce the applicant because his health situation deteriorated and he was examined by the Prison personnel and also his personal physician and they recommended rest for him, that was why he was not produced, and in this kind of application, his presence is not mandatory. He must not be in court before the application can be moved, and they did not oppose to the fact that, the application should go ahead, and they did not also oppose the letter. It was read in the open.
What do you think could have been responsible for misrepresentation?
Honestly, I would not know. But let me say that cases are settled on the basis of facts presented in courts, cases are not settled on the pages of newspapers, I would like to appeal to all interested persons in legal proceedings to go the courts and obtain the right information before disseminating it to the public. All what has been said now is that Bala James Ngilari secured his bail based on a fraudulent letter from the Prisons. The bail was not obtained based on the so-called fraudulent letter, it was based on the application he filed, with the facts deposed to, together with the medical reports and the arguments presented in court by the lawyers, and judge went through all these facts, and exercised his discretion. If they are not happy with the bail application, of course, they can appeal, that is the right thing for them to do in this circumstance.