Hon. Farah Dagogo, the troubled former PDP candidate for governor, was given bail by the Rivers State High Court on Tuesday.
It took around 60 days for his bail to be approved after he was taken into custody.
A mere 24 hours after Nyesom Wike, the state governor, issued a warrant for his arrest for allegedly inciting “thugs” to disrupt events at the PDP state secretariat on Aba Road in Port Harcourt, the legislator representing the Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency was apprehended.
He was taken away at the PDP’s South-South zone office screening hall during the party’s governorship screening in April on the basis of the allegation.
In his judgement, Presiding Justice Chiwendu Nwogu released the lawmaker on bail with the requirement that he provide one surety in the amount of N20 million.
In addition, Nwogu prohibited Dagogo from leaving the country without permission of the court while his case was continuing and ordered him to leave his international passport in a safe place.
Additionally, according to Justice Nwogu, the surety must be a resident of Rivers State, a citizen of Nigeria, and have a registered record of title proving their residence there.
He further decided that the court’s legal assistant would confirm the surety’s address, and that the defendant and the surety would each provide two passport photos and three years of tax clearance.
Cosmos Enweluzo, SAN, the lead attorney for Dagogo, said in a statement outside the court that he was pleased that his client had been granted bail but questioned why it had taken the court more than two months to do so.
His words are
The right and liberty of a citizen must be recognized and honored where the rule of law exists. We are discussing a member of the National Assembly who is a citizen.
But in all things, we give glory to God and profanely thank the Judge for exercising his good judgment and compassion.
