Obiajulu Uja, who protested against President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and created panic a few weeks ago when he began denouncing Tinubu’s emergence as president while onboard an Ibom Air Abuja-Lagos aircraft, has been refused bail.
Uja, who was evacuated from the jet and turned over to police, had applied for release through his attorney, Barr. Ejike Ugwu, but his bail plea was denied on Tuesday by a Zuba Magistrate Court in Abuja.
Senior Magistrate Mohammed Abdulazeez Ismail denied the motion, ruling that it was premature and that the documents attached to the application did not state that the defendant was incompetent for trial, but rather that he was mentally ill.
The Magistrate determined that Uja cannot be released on bail based on Section 35(1)(e) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 278 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
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He argued that when a defendant’s mental ability is in question, the court has a responsibility to learn about their medical history. The materials that accompanied Uja’s bail application, he said, brought up the question of his medical fitness.
He therefore denied the request for bail and mandated that Uja be detained in the Nigerian Correctional Service’s Kuje Correctional Centre.
He further directed that the defendant be sent to a government facility for evaluation of his mental competence. The hearing and report were then postponed until April 20, 2023.
