The Federal High Court sitting in Calabar has granted N10m bail to detained journalist Agba Jalingo with one surety in like sum.

Jalingo, who is facing a four-count charge bordering on terrorism and treason, spent 175 days in detention before he was finally granted bail.

In granting the bail,  Justice Sule Shuaibu attached other conditions.

He directed that Jalingo must not travel outside the country without the consent of the court, deposit refundable cash of N700,000 with the court registrar who will pay it into an interest yielding account with a commercial bank, and the surety must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court with a verifiable address and show means that he will be able to forfeit the bail bond.

Other conditions are that both the defendant and the surety must each submit two passport photographs to the court, and Jalingo must depose to an oath that he will be available in court.

Jalingo’s matter came up afresh Thursday before Justice Shuaibu after the former judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, recused himself twice and the Cross River State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Tanko Ashang, took over the prosecution of the matter.

After the charges were read to Jalingo and he pleaded not guilty to them, his counsel, Attah Ochinke told the judge that he wanted an opportunity to argue the bail application, which he said had earlier been filed in November 2019 before Justice Amobeda and twice he was denied bail.

Ochinke in his motion, brought pursuant to sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended as well as sections 158, 161, 162 and 165 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, urged the court to admit the defendant to bail relying on “his state of health as the special circumstance upon which the court may exercise its discretion.”

He said the bail application dated November 7, 2019 was filed on November 12, 2019.

Ashang, the prosecution counsel, who said he was not opposed to the bail application asked the court to be guided by the provisions of Section 34 subsection 3(a) and subsection 5 of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act of 2013 which bars the discussion of court proceedings on trials relating to terrorism as well as prescribes a five-year jail term for those found wanting.

The judge then said “this application succeeds,” and adjourned the matter to the 6th, 7th and 8th of April 2020 for the prosecution to open and close its case while other motions may be treated before that day.

The State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Victor Udu, who represented NUJ National President, Chris Isiguzo, mobilised journalists to the court in solidarity with Jalingo.

He expressed delight at the bail granted Jalingo and urged journalists in the state to always uphold the ethics of the profession so that when they are arrested or incarcerated unjustly the union would fight for them.