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Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday declined to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release the detained Senator Rochas Okorocha on bail.
Okorocha, a former Imo governor and presidential aspirant on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), had filed an ex-parte application in which he sought an order of the court to compel EFCC to grant him bail.
The bail request was on the ground that Okorocha, who represents Imo West in the Senate, is a presidential aspirant and that his political ambition would be jeopardised unless granted bail.
SaharaReporters had reported how the anti-graft agency arrested the former governor of Imo State in his Abuja residence after several hours of laying siege to the house.
EFCC had accused Okorocha of breaching the administrative bail condition the agency gave him when he refused to honour court invitations twice for arraignment on N2.9 billion money laundering charges before the same judge.
The Judge issued a bench warrant to arrest him to face his trial.
Subsequently, EFCC operatives swooped on his residence on Tuesday and effected his arrest. The agency has since detained him to ensure his appearance in court on Monday, May 30, to take his plea to the fraud charges against him.
However, ruling on his bail application, Justice Ekwo, said he was not inclined to admit him to bail.
Instead, the judge ordered Okorocha to put the Nigerian Government on notice to defend his detention.
