COVID-19: Court grants bail to accused Caverton Helicopters pilots
A Port Harcourt Chief Magistrate Court on Tuesday granted bail to Messrs. Samuel Ugorji and Samuel Buhari, both pilots with Caverton Helicopters who were accused of contravening the executive order of the Rivers state governor issued to check the spread of the coronavirus in the state.
The magistrate court also granted bail to 10 passengers of Caverton Helicopters who were flown into the state by the two pilots.
Chief Magistrate D.D. Ihua-Maduenyi granted the two pilots bail after hearing the bail application by their counsel.
In granting the two pilots bail, Chief Magistrate, Ihua-Maduenyi, stated that they must present a surety who must be a management staff of Caverton Helicopters.
The court ruled that the surety must own a landed property in Port Harcourt and the surety must ensure that the two pilots attended trial, while the surety would sign a bail bond of N1million each for the two pilots.
Earlier, the court granted a motion abridging the time for the bail application to be filed following a motion moved by Caverton Helicopters. It deemed the bail application as properly filed.
He adjourned the matter to May 19, for trial.
Lawyer to the Caverton pilots, Nwokedi Ibe, had moved a bail application seeking the court to grant the two pilots bail.
His bail application dated April 8, but filed on April 9, was supported by a 28-paragraph affidavit.
Attorney-General of Rivers state, Prof. Zaccheus Adangor, who appeared for the state, did not oppose the bail application.
He however, urged the court to set out bail conditions to ensure that the pilots attend their trial.
For the 10 passengers, the court ruled that they should present two sureties who must be management staff of Caverton Helicopters.
Also, the sureties are to sign bail bond of N500, 000 for each of the passengers and are to undertake to bring the accused persons to trial.
They were arrested at the Air Force Base, Port Harcourt after the Rivers State Police Command received intelligence on their alleged illegal flight into the state.
READ ALSO: FG explains escalation of tensions over alleged abuse of Nigerians in China
Addressing journalists, counsel to Caverton Helicopters, Nwokedi Ibe, said that the basic lesson in the court interaction is that there must be mutual respect between the federal and state governments.
The state attorney-general said that it must be noted that the state government was not interested in the persecution of the defendants, hence it did not oppose the bail application.
He said that the state government was only interested in prosecuting the defendants in line with the law, assuring that the pilots would be released whenever they perfect their bail conditions.
