Court grants former PDP Chairman Haliru Bello & son N600m bail

The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted a N600 million bail to the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Haliru Bello and his son, Abba. The two are facing a 4-count criminal charge‎ bordering on alleged N300 million fraud‎. Delivering judgement on their bail application, the presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed ordered the duo to pay N300million each as well as produce two sureties each, in like sum. One of the persons to stand surety for the former PDP chairman must be a Director under the employment of the federal government or any of its agencies while the the son was asked to produce someone not below grade level 12 to stand surety for him. Justice Mohammed ordered that the second surety must be an owner of landed property in Abuja the value of which must not be below N300m, adding that the title deed of such property must be verified and surrendered to the court registrar throughout the duration of the trial. The accused persons were also asked to surrender their international passports to the court. Pending the perfection of the bail terms, the court ordered that Abba should be remanded in prison custody, saying the ex-PDP boss should remain in hospital but placed under police watch. Hearing on the fraud charges begins on February 16.