An alleged terrorist negotiator, Tukur Mamu, arrested and remanded in jail by the State Security Services, has had his bail application denied by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Trial Justice Inyang Ekwo’s ruling stated that the court was convinced by the Department of State Services’ counter-affidavit filed in opposition to Mamu’s request for bail.
Among other things, Justice Ekwo ruled that Mamu’s motion lacked merit and that the petitioner had not presented enough evidence to persuade the court to exercise its discretion in his favour.
He observed that the defendant had not refuted the Federal Government’s allegations that he was a flight risk and likely to conduct more crimes.
He said, “Generally, the law is that where averments in a counter affidavit are not countered, they are accepted to be true and correct and they require no further elaboration. This is because facts admitted need no further proof.”
Although the defendant argued that the SSS custody, where he was being held, could not address his medical issues, the judge held that other factors would need to be taken into account before making a decision.
“Again, the court will weigh the evidence to see whether the custodians allow the applicant requisite access to medical treatment peculiar to his medical condition.
“The court will also take into account the attitude of the defendant/applicant to the medical facility provided to him by his custodian.
“Where there is a medical facility by the custodian of the defendant which can adequately take care of the medical condition of the defendant, then the application for bail on medical grounds will not be countenanced by the court,” he said.
“Now, where the defendant willfully rejects the medical facility given to him by his custodian merely for the fact that such facility is not up to the standard that he expects, then, he has no good medical grounds for bail application.
“A defendant who is in the custody of the state or agency of the state like the complainant/respondent must understand that his medical care is at the expense of the state and must be reasonable in his demands,” he said.
The judge noted that the defendant was only transferred to Arewa Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, Jabi by the security company after declining the DSS medical services, according to the information that was presented in court.
“There adequate tests and treatments were administered at the expense of the complainant/applicant and he was diagnosed with Moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea and the use of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure was recommended, among other options, at the hospital, ” the judge said.
However, he claimed that the DSS had asserted that the hospital was both able and willing to assume responsibility for Mamu’s care and was adequately equipped to handle the defendant’s medical condition.
“A defendant who is in the custody of the state or agency of the state like the complainant/respondent must understand that his medical care is at the expense of the state and must be reasonable in his demands,” Justice Ekwo added.
The trial judge also ruled that Mamu failed to refute the claim that he had previously broken the terms of an administrative release that the DSS had granted him.
He claimed that the DSS’s arguments convinced him that the court should not use its discretion to accept Mamu’s request for bail.
The judge held that in exercising his discretion on the application for bail on allegations contained in a charge sheet punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding three years, “the discretion of the court to grant bail will not be exercised in favour of the defendant where any of the conditions in Section 162 of the ACJA 2015 Is established.”
“With this undertaking, this application for bail on medical grounds does not hold water.
“This application is consequently refused and Is hereby struck out. This is the order of this court.”
The Federal Government charged Mamu with ten counts, including financing terrorism and supporting terrorist activities in the nation, on March 21.
