Hon. Wilfred Ezike V. The State (2009)

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ABUBAKAR SADIQ UMAR, J.C.A.

 This appeal is against the ruling of the Anambra State High Court, Onisha Judicial Division, delivered by I.U. Ndigwe J. on the 5th day of February, 2019. In the said ruling, the learned trial judge refused the Application for bail sought by the Appellant on the ground that the Appellant did not make out special circumstances to warrant his admission to bail, the charge being a capital offence.

BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE
The facts that culminated into the filing of the instant appeal as could be gleaned from the records is that the Appellant as 1st Defendant in charge No. MO/937c/2018: Commissioner of Police V. Wilfred Ezike & Ors was arraigned alongside two others on a three count charge of conspiracy and murder and the unlawful possession of fire arms. The Appellant was alleged to be a participant in the alleged murder and attempted murder of one Akachukwu Ezebuilo and one Nnamdi Obumse respectively. The offence was said to have been committed on the 10th day of September, 2018 at about 3:30 hrs at No.1 Ziks Avenue Fagge Onitsha.

?The Appellant was subsequently arrested

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with others and were arraigned before a Magistrate Court sitting in Onitsha on the 3rd day of December, 2018 and for want of jurisdiction, only remand proceedings was taken. On the 7th day of December, 2012, the Appellant at the immediate Court below filed an application for bail pending trial. The said application was supported by a 15 paragraphed affidavit and had annexed to it 5 exhibits and a written address. The Applicant subsequently filed a further affidavit with Exhibits FA1-FA8 as annexures.

In opposing the granting of the said application, the Respondent at the Court below on the 17th day of December, 2018 filed a counter affidavit with a written address. The Applicant in turn on the same date filed a Further Affidavit and had attached with it eight exhibits. There was also an Affidavit of Fact and a Re sworn Affidavit of Fact Correcting Error in the Affidavit of Fact/Further Affidavit of Facts in Opposition of the Motion for Bail of Hon. Wilfred Ezike both deposed to by one Nnamdi Obumse and dated the 18th December, 2018 and filed on the same date.

The Application was taken on the 18th day of December, 2018 and in its ruling delivered on

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the 5th day of February, 2019 the Appellant?s application for bail was denied by the Court below.
The Appellant aggrieved with the ruling appealed against it by the Notice of Appeal dated 13th February, 2019 and filed on the same date (see pages 1-5 of the Supplementary Record). The Appellant Grounds of Appeal without their Particulars are:
?GROUND ONE?
ERROR IN LAW
The learned trial judge erred in law and came to the wrong decision when he held that the Appellant was not entitled to bail as he had not made out sufficient grounds upon which the said trial Court would grant him the bail.
?GROUND TWO?
ERROR IN LAW
The learned trial Judge erred in law when he failed to exercise his discretion judicially and judiciously and refused the Applicant?s application for bail.
?GROUND THREE?
ERROR IN LAW
The Learned Trial Judge erred in law and denied the Applicant his right to fair hearing as enshrined in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) when he had given consideration to the document tilted ?Affidavit of Fact? filed on the 18/12/2018

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by a total stranger to the proceedings together with the Exhibits attached thereto in refusing to grant bail to the Applicant.?

In line with the rules of this Honourable Court, parties filed and exchanged their respective briefs of argument. The Appellant?s brief dated 15th February, 2019 and filed on the same date was settled by C. CHUMA OGUEJIOFOR ESQ. while the Respondent?s brief dated 4th March, 2019 and filed on the same date was settled by TOONNA NNABUIFE ESQ., Senior State Counsel, Ministry of Justice, Enugu State.

Learned counsel for the Appellant distilled the following issues for determination of this appeal to wit:
1. ?Whether the learned trial Judge had rightly held as he did that the Appellant was not entitled to bail in the case leading to this appeal. (Distilled from Grounds 1 and 2).
2. ?Whether the proceedings before the trial Court in the manner it was conducted by the trial judge did not infringe on the Appellant?s right to fair hearing to wit Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as Amended) and the tenets of natural justice which then rendered the entire proceedings a