The hopes of the immediate past deputy governor of Imo State, Gerald Irona, has been dashed as his bail request was rejected on Wednesday.
Irona’s request was rejected by Justice S.I. Opara of the Imo State High Court sitting in Owerri, the state capital after the prosecution argued that his bail application was filed late Monday.
The prosecution counsels told the court that the 48 hours allowed by law to enable the prosecutors to respond on points of law have subsisted as of Wednesday morning when the accused was arraigned.
However, one of the counsels to the accused, S.I. Imo, countered the prosecutors’ stand by urging the judge to grant his client’s bail as he was qualified in the eyes of the law.
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The judge denied Irona bail after listening to both arguments and adjourned the case till March 22 to enable the prosecutors to file their counter-bail affidavit.
On Tuesday, the former lawmaker’s arraignment was stalled due to the fact that his case file had not been transmitted to the court.
Earlier, he was brought before a Magistrates Court in Owerri by police in the state on a three-count bordering on treason.
The Magistrate, C.N Ezerioha, denied Irona bail and ordered that he be remanded in Owerri prison custody after listening to the arguments for and against his bail.
The three charges preferred against him by the police read, “That you Hon Gerald Irona sometime in January 2020, at Owerri in the Owerri magistrate district, did conspired with others now at large, to commit felony to wit: treason and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 37(2) of the criminal code, cap c 38, law of the federation of Nigeria, 2004, as applicable in Imo State.
“That you Hon Gerald Irona sometime in January 2020, at Owerri in the Owerri magistrate district, did make several utterances to the effect that you will make Imo state ungovernable and immediately afterwards hoodlums levied several attacks on Imo state with intent to intimidate or overawe the governor of Imo state and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 37 of the criminal code, cap, c 38, law of the federation of Nigeria, 2004, as applicable in Imo State.
“That you Hon Gerald Irona on the 15th day of January, 2020, at Owerri in the Owerri magistrate district, do converted to your own use two land cruiser jeep ( V8 and v6) and one Toyota Hilux vehicle valued four hundred and Ninety three million naira property of Imo state government thereby committed an offence punishable under section 390 ( 9) of the criminal code, cap c 38, laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004, as applicable in Imo State.”