The Court of Appeal, sitting in Enugu on Wednesday granted bail to a former boxer, Ikechukwu Okoronkwo, who has been in prison custody since July 25, 2011.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, who read the judgement on behalf of two other justices, granted the bail after assuming jurisdiction in the bail application earlier rejected by an Enugu High Court.
Agim said the high court denied itself the jurisdiction to hear Okoronkwo’s second bail application after it had rejected an earlier one.
He said the former boxer was able to prove a case of changed circumstance, which warranted his second application for bail.
The judge said the appellate court had the right to determine the real issue and would not send it back to the trial court.
He also said: “All the road blocks mounted by the respondent in the case had collapsed,” referring to a counter-affidavit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
On the bail conditions, Agim said that Okoronkwo should deposit his travel documents with the chief registrar of the high court and must produce two sureties of unquestionable integrity in the sum of N15 million each.
He also said that the sureties must own property in any part of the country worth N10 million each and must deposit requisite papers with the high court.
The EFCC had claimed in its counter-affidavit that a medical report tendered by Okoronkwo was forged and that he had processed his papers to travel abroad to evade prosecution in the high court.
Okoronkwo is standing trial in the high court for allegedly obtaining money by trick or converting another person’s money to his personal use.
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