Court remands Melaye in police custody

A Lokoja magistrate court has ordered that Senator Dino Melaye representing kogi west senatorial district be remanded along with two others in police custody till June 11.
Melaye who was brought to the court in a hospital stretcher was arraigned on a six count charge bordering on illegal possession of firearm, criminal conspiracy and illegal transfer of firearms, among others.
When the charge was read, the prosecutor, Alex Iziyon cited relevant laws said the allegations levelled against the accused persons were too weighty and not ordinarily bailable.
He therefore asked the court to remand senator Melaye in prison custody while the two accused persons who implicated Melaye, namely kabiru Seidu aka Osama and Nuhu Salisu aka small be remanded in police custody

But Melaye’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome who opposed the application of the prosecution, swiftly moved for Melaye’s bail citing sec 97 2 of the penal code and sec ,56 of the Kogi state administration of criminal justice law which say the offences are bailable

He also presented two medical reports from the national hospital which signified that Melaye is bedridden owing to a spinal cord injury he sustained and said he cannot jump bail. He argued that as a vocal senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria he could not have jumped bail.
The defendants counsel also pleaded with the magistrate to consider the bail application saying his client has been with the police since April 24 and was released on bail on Wednesday by an Abuja magistrate court only to be re arrested by the police. He said his client should be in court for prosecution and not persecution.
But the prosecutor, swiftly opposed the bail application saying Melaye had earlier escaped from a lawful police custody and that for the counsel to say he was a vocal senator “means he is influential and can move and unmoved anything”

At the middle of the trial, Melaye suddenly woke up from the stretcher and looked around the court , and minutes later the doctor that led a medical team to the court rushed to him and supplied him an inhaler.
The trial judge Senior Magistrate Suleiman Abdallah while giving his ruling said the court had listened carefully to the submissions of both lawyers and concluded that the case was not bailable.
He ordered that all the three accused persons be remanded in police custody while Melaye should be given access to his medication.