Justice Sule Shuaibu of the Federal High Court, Calabar, Cross River State granted bail to Agba Jalingo, Publisher of CrossRiverWatch. He was granted bail on Thursday, 13th February 2020, with the sum of N10million.
Agba Jalingo was arraigned on August 22, 2019 after he published a story on how the Governor of Cross River, Prof. Ben Ayade allegedly approved and diverted N500 million meant for the State’s microfinance bank. Agba Jalingo, who faced a four-count charge of terrorism and treason, spent 5 months in detention before he was finally granted bail.
In granting the bail, the Judge attached some conditions such as; Jalingo must not travel outside the country without the consent of the court, deposit refundable cash of N700,000 with the court registrar, who will pay it into an interest-yielding account with a commercial bank, the surety must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court with a verifiable address and show that he will be able to forfeit the bail bond, both the defendant and the surety must each submit two passport photographs to the court, and Agba Jalingo must depose to an oath that he will be available in court for trials.
Justice Sule Shuaibu adjourned the case to 6th, 7th and 8th of April 2020 for the prosecution to open and close its case while other motions may be treated before that day.
