The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has raised concerns over the growing practice of imposing excessive and impractical bail conditions, warning that the trend is transforming bail into a tool for pre-trial detention.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Afam Osigwe, president of the NBA, said courts and law enforcement agencies are increasingly imposing conditions that many defendants could not meet despite being granted bail.
Osigwe said the frequent insistence on sureties who are senior civil servants and demands for landed properties of high value had made it difficult for many accused persons to regain their freedom pending trial.
“The frequent insistence on sureties who are senior civil servants of specified grade levels, coupled with demands for landed properties of extraordinary value, has in many cases transformed bail from a mechanism for securing attendance at trial into a tool of pretrial detention,” he said.
“The consequence
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