Court orders Police to allow Senator travel to US for medical treatment

Presiding magistrate, Mabel Segun-Bello, handed down this ruling on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, as Melaye stands trial for criminal conspiracy, causing damage to government property, attempted suicide and escape from lawful custody.

The police had arraigned the lawmaker before the court in May after he carried out a daring escape from police custody while he was being transported to Kogi state on April 24.

When he was arraigned before the court on May 2, Segun-Bello ordered him to deposit his international passport with the police as he was granted bail in the sum of N90 million as he appeared before the court on a stretcher claiming he was suffering from a spinal cord injury during the course of his altercation with the police.

During the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the lawmaker's lawyer, John Odubela, pleaded with the court to allow his client travel to the US to attend to his deteriorating health.

Even though this motion was opposed by the prosecuting counsel, Alex Izinyon, Segun-Bello ruled that Melaye can travel out of the country to seek medical treatment for a period of 20 days between June 18 to July 8, 2018. The magistrate ordered the release of his passport for the affected period but also directed Melaye to return the passport to the authorities once he's back in the country.

Before the lawmaker can travel, he'll still have to appear before the court on June 13 when the prosecution will present three of its witnesses before the court to prove that he's guilty of all the charges brought against him.

Melaye facing three criminal cases in three courts

Other than his trial in front of the the Abuja Magistrates' Court, Senator Melaye is currently battling two other criminal cases in Abuja and Kogi.

After Kabiru Saidu, a.k.a Osama, and Nuhu Salisu, aka Small, were arrested at Ogojueje in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi on January 19, 2018, they confessed to the police that Senator Melaye hired them to cause unrest in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The criminal suspects disclosed that the lawmaker handed them a bag containing one AK-47 rifle, two pump action guns and the sum of N430,000 to unleash mayhem in Kogi.

The police first requested Melaye's presence in a letter addressed to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, dated March 2, 2018, urging him to report to the Police on March 7 to answer to the criminal offences levelled against him, but he refused the invitation, alleging that the police was colluding with the Kogi state government to cause him harm.

He was officially declared wanted by the police on March 28, the same day he was due to be arraigned in court in Lokoja alongside OsamaandSmall who both escaped from their prison cell but were rearrested before April 1.

While attempting to travel to Morocco for an official engagement on Monday, April 23, Melaye was stopped by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The operatives seized his international passport to prevent him from leaving the country.

According to the police, the lawmaker snatched his seized passport from NIS operatives and retreated to his house in Maitama, Abuja, where police officers later laid siege into the early hours of Tuesday, April 24.

Early on Tuesday, he announced that he would pay a visit to police authorities after his police escorts were withdrawn.

On Tuesday afternoon, with help from hoodlums, Melaye briefly escaped from police officers while he was being transported from Abuja to his home state.

Hours later, the Senator resurfaced at the , Abuja, in an ambulance, apparently unconscious, before he was rearrested and moved to the National Hospital.

He was arraigned before an Abuja Magistrate Court sitting at Wuse Zone 2 on a stretcher to answer charges brought against him by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on Wednesday, May 2.

During his arraignment on Wednesday, Melaye was charged for criminal conspiracy, causing damage to government property, attempted suicide and escape from lawful custody.

Even though the presiding magistrate, Segun-Bello, granted the lawmaker bail in the sum of N90 million, he was re-arrested by police officers after his arraignment and was driven to Lokoja early on Thursday.

In his other case that occurred earlier this year, the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation filed a lawsuit against Melaye for allegedly providing false information to the police about an assassination attempt on his life.

In the suit (CR/106/18) filed before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama on January 31, 2018, Melaye is accused of falsely incriminating Kogi's Governor Yahaya Bello's Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja David, as well as making false statement in regards to the attempted assassination.

On March 1, Melaye was granted a N100,000 bail after he was asked to provide a surety who is not less than a level 14 in the Federal Civil Service.