Court grants N100m bail to former Adamawa Governor,

A Yola high court on Thursday granted bail to the immediate past Governor of Adamawa, Mr Bala Ngilari, arraigned over alleged N167 million contract processing without due process.

Justice Nathan Musa granted Ngillari bail along with his administration’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr Sanda Lamurde.

The court granted Lamurde bail in the sum of N50 million with surety, who must also possess a landed property in Yola.

The court will on Friday give ruling on a bail application by Ibrahim Welye, who served as the Secretary to the state government under Ngilari.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ngilari, Welye and Lamurde were arraigned before the court on a 17-count charge of conspiracy and unlawful processing of contract.

They were charged by the Economic and Finance Crimes Commission (EFCC), which alleged that the offence contravened Section 96 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 97 of the same code.

The EFCC accused the trio of processing contract for purchase of 25 cars worth N167 million without following due process.

The commission said that the accused allegedly committed the crime in 2015 while in office.

The accused, however, had pleaded not guilty.

Ruling on the bail application the judge said that the prosecutor had not provided enough reason why the the former governor and commissioner should not be granted bail.

Musa noted that the crime allegedly committed by Ngilari and Lamurde was bail-able, the EFCC had already concluded investigations in the matter.

He adjourned the case to October 10 for hearing Substantive hearing.