By GODWIN TSA, Abuja, JAMIE DOMINICS, Washington and MOSHODD ADEBAYO, Abeokuta
Friday, June 30, 2006

The court had on their first appearance on Tuesday rejected the oral application for bail by their counsel and ordered that they be remanded in the custody of the State Security Services (SSS) until their bail application is presented formally.

But after listening to their written application for bail which was moved by their lawyers, Justice Babs Kuewunmi granted them bail to the sum of N500,000.00 and one surety each in the like sum.

Reading out the conditions attached to the bail, Justice Kuewunmi said the sureties must be residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while the journalists were asked to deposit two passport photographs with the clerk of the court.
The court held that the offences upon which the accused persons are standing trial were bailable just as it agreed with the submissions of the defence counsel that they can be available to face their trial if granted bail.

Justice Kuewunmi noted that the issue of bail is the discretion of the court, which should be exercised judicially and judiciously.
He also relied on the principle of law, which holds that an accused person is deemed to be innocent until proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction, in granting bail to the suspects.
Earlier, counsel to the 1st accused (Durojaiye), Femi Falana had while moving the bail application told the court that the charge of sedition upon which the suspects were standing trial was pronounced dead and exterminated from the statute book as far back as 1983.

According to him, since 1983 till date, "no Nigerian whether dead or alive has been prosecuted for seditious offence," adding that the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) who brought the charge against the journalists ought to have been disciplined for taking the nation’s judicial system backward.

Challenging the constitutionality of the charges, Falana said it was unconstitutional and that the accused persons have no business being arraigned before the court. In addition, he submitted that the offence against the journalists was of less gravity and ordinarily bailable.

He further told the court that it was a dangerous precedent to arrest any Nigerian and detain him for a law that does not exist and urged the court to admit the suspects to bail.
On his part, Counsel to Aruleba, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) who described the trial as a challenge to press freedom guaranteed under section 22 of the 1999 constitution questioned the substance of the offence.

Rather than prosecute the accused persons, Chief Uche contended that they should be commended for their spirit of patriotism for drawing the attention of President Olusegun Obasanjo to the dangerous state of his (presidential) aircraft.

While adopting the principles of law earlier cited by Falana, Uche contended that the accused persons are ready to produce responsible and reasonable sureties to take them on bail and urged the court to adopt a liberal approach in considering the bail application.
He posited that the Federal Government has not controverted the facts of the publication upon which the suspects are standing trial.

The fulcrum of the case is the publication in the Daily Independent Newspaper of June 12, 2006 with the title "The controversy over age cost of presidential jet" a story written by the senior Aviation Correspondent of the Newspaper, Durojaiye.

Aruleba is being charged for reviewing the newspaper on the AIT morning programme, Focus Nigeria.
At Thursday’s proceedings, the two journalists were in high spirits as they entered the courtroom. While Aruleba was clad in a black suit with a brown inner shirt, Durojaiye was in an ash coloured t- shirt and a faded blue jeans. The matter has been adjourned till July 25 for hearing.
Speaking after the trial, Lagos lawyer Festus Keyamo described the action of President Obasanjo as condemnable.

"What the President is doing is a reaction and anger to the foiling of the third term plot. There is nothing beyond that, the president is just angry at journalists, the president is so angry at society, so what we have seen today is a reaction of nothing less than a rattle-snake. It is nothing but a reaction by a Tokunbo president, by a Tokunbo law to a Tokunbo issue."

In his reaction, Femi Falana commended Nigerian journalists for patriotic and professional performance of their duties while condemning the action of the Federal government.
"I think the Government ought to have appreciated the fact that the media has a constitutional duty which was performed creditably and professionally this time around. Federal Government should be warned that the media in Nigeria have grown beyond the level of being intimidated."

Former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, in his reaction alerted media professionals in the country to be ready for challenges of facing what he described as war from the Federal Government.
Osoba who spoke with journalists in Abeokuta on his brief stop-over at the Ogun State Secretariat of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) also said journalists were being persecuted for their roles in aborting the third term elongation.

His words: "The government has declared total hostility and war on the press. I want to alert my colleagues in the media that they must be ready to take up the challenge because of the noble and leading role played by the press in aborting the monster of third term and term elongation."

Osoba urged NPAN, the Guild of Editors and the Nigeria Union of Journalists to be a rallying point for the detained journalists saying : " I expect all of us to be in court the next time the case is called. We must let the world know that we are under siege and I am appealing to the judiciary not to allow themselves to be used to deal with the media."

Reaction to the trial of the two journalists is by no means limited to Nigeria as the US administration says it is watching the development with keen interest.
White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow, said the administration is closely watching the case and reminded Nigerian officials that a free and independent press is the hallmark of democracy. "The Nigerian government should ensure that the right of the press to freely do its duty is not restricted in any way and that journalists are not intimidated in the discharge of their duties," he stated.

New York based Committee to Protect Journalists is also criticizing Abuja for arresting the journalists. The organisation reminds Nigeria that it is a signatory to a United Nations charter protecting the rights of citizens to freely criticize their government and the freedom of the press.