Ezekiel Awojide, Abuja
An Abuja High Court on Monday adjourned ruling on the bail application of the former Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, until Thursday.
Ngige would remain at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the ruling.
Earlier, Justice Maryam Hassan, has ordered his remand in prison after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned him on eight counts of fraud and accepting bribes on Friday (Dec.12).
The EFCC accused the former minister of awarding contracts to his associates, an offence that violates Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
Other charges include collecting bribes from some of those associates, which the anti-graft agency said contravenes the provisions of Section 17(a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 and is punishable under Section 17(c) of the same Act.
Ngige, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The defendant is a former governor of Anambra State on the Peoples Democratic Party’s platform from May 2003 to March 2006.
He also served as Nigeria’s labour minister from 2015 to 2023, during the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
At the resumed hearing of his bail application, EFCC counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, SAN submitted that Ngige is “a flight risk and can flee the country at will,”
Counsel for Ngige, Patrick Ikwueto, a SAN, however, urged the court to grant the former governor bail on four grounds.
Ikwueto argued that Ngige cannot be a flight risk because his international passport was stolen.
“Where will he go without the Visa? The defendant is not a flight risk and has no capacity, factual and legal, to leave the country.”
However, Tahir, informed the court that Ngige violated the terms of the administrative bail given by the anti-graft agency.
Tahir added that the former minister promised to return his passport after requesting it on 5 Sept 5 to travel for a medical appointment, but never returned it or reported it stolen.
“He made a promise to return it(passport) by Nov. 19 2025.
” The defendant did not return it. His signature on the affidavit of loss shows that the defendant came back on Nov.14 2025. It (affidavit of loss) was never forwarded to us.
“Between the date he undertook and returned, clear 5 days, he did not turn himself in, nor return the travel documents.”
He noted that the EFCC’s arrest of Ngige was prompted by a report from one of his sureties, Abubakar Mohammed, who came to retrieve his passport after the defendant returned to Nigeria.
On Dec.10, the EFCC arrested Ngige at his residence on Justice Mohammed Bello Road in Abuja.
Tahir noted that the report of his stolen documents submitted by the defendant was written on Dec.6 and received on the day of his arrest.
He described this as an ” afterthought.”
The prosecution counsel also pointed out that the affidavit of loss was obtained in Nigeria, not in the United Kingdom, where the alleged theft occurred.
“The defendant is in gross breach of the administrative bail conditions granted to him by the EFCC and in contravention of Section 162 of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act.
“This calls for extreme caution,” he said.
However, Ikwueto argued that the loss of a passport, according to the law, should be reported to the local police, which Ngige did.
He insisted that the passport was stolen, and the EFCC is not contesting the validity of the travel document.
Ikwueto also urged the court to consider that the defendant has no prior criminal record, and is unlikely to commit the offence again.
He added that the defendant cannot tamper with the evidence since the witness statements have already been taken.
He further asked the judge to consider the age and medical condition of Ngige, as part of the other grounds for bail.
“Exercise your discretion to impose whatever favourable conditions that will make him stand for his trial,” Ikwueto pleaded.
After listening to their submissions, Justice Hassan adjourned ruling on his bail until Thursday.
The judge ordered that the defendant remain in Kuje Custodial Centre until ruling on his bail application.
