The Federal High Court of Nigeria (FHCN) has distanced itself from some media reports claiming that the court granted bail to Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and others being tried in connection with mismanagement of funds to the tune of $2.1 billion meant for arms procurement.
This was disclosed by the Acting Chief Registrar of the FRCN, Emmanuel Garko, who accused the media of spreading false information.
Garko wondered how the Federal High Court could have granted bail to the accused persons when they were not even tried before it.
He said: “It will be in the interest of the reporters and editors (the media) to note that these cases involving the accused persons are not all before the Federal High Court of Nigeria as reported by some national dailies, but before Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf and Justice Peter Affen of the High Court of the FCT.”
The registrar went on to explain that the Federal High Court and the High Court of the FCT were different courts with respective jurisdictions and should not be mixed up.
According to him, the clarification became necessary as some media organisations had gone to town with the news that the FHCN granted bail to Dasuki and co to the tune of N250 million.
While urging the media to exercise caution when going about their business, he said it was necessary to cross check facts when in doubt so as not to misinform the public.
Dasuki and others were only granted bail on two occasions on December 18 and 21 last year at N250million by Justices Hussein Baba-Yusuf and Peter Affen of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Vanguard reported.
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