For the third time, Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday dismissed an application for bail filed by Emmanuel Nwude, a serial fraudster.

Nwude alongside Emmanuel Ilechukwu and Rowland Kalu were, on March 2, 2018, arraigned on a 15-count charge bordering on forgery and dealing in forfeited property.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Emmanuel Nwude, Emmanuel Ilechukwu and Rowland Kalu, on or about 12th day of January 2011, at Lagos within the Ikeja Judicial Division, conspired to forge a Power of Attorney dated 12th day of January 2011, issued in the name of Mankris Venture Limited purporting that Mankris Venture Limited is the owner of Plot Y, Mobolaji Johnson Street, Oregun, Alausa Lagos, whereas you knew that the property was forfeited to the victims of crimes as restitution in the judgment delivered in 2005 by Honourable Justice Joseph Oyewole in ID/92c/04- FRN vs. Emmanuel Nwude & Six Others and the victims subsequently sold the property to Rossab Industrial Design Limited and Rossab Industrial Limited later assigned to G.C. Nweze and Company Limited and committed an offence contrary to Section 467(2)(m) of the Criminal Code Law Cap C17, Lagos State, 2003.”

In the application dated June 8, 2018, counsel to Nwude, Emeka Okpoko, SAN, is seeking an order of the court to admit his client to bail based on what he described as “changed circumstances.”

The defendant is also seeking an order of the court to be granted bail on liberal terms, pending the conclusion of the trial, adding that the application would allow him to travel for his medical check.

However, counsel to the prosecution, Nnemeka Omewa, filed an eight-paragraph counter-affidavit with a written address, which was adopted as his argument against the application.

Nnemeka further told the court that the application, which is the third, was based on what the defendant called “changed circumstances”, adding that “we looked at the background of the application and found out that nothing had changed in all the applications brought before the court.”

He also told the court that the medical report presented by the applicant was “a purported report, which was neither signed nor dated, and has no practical value.”

In her ruling, Justice Dada said the application before she was the third argued by different counsel, including Okpoko, who argued the third application.

She further held that “the only difference in the application is the purported medical report, which is unreliable.

“It is highly regrettable that Chief Emeka Okpoko, SAN, wants the court to grant bail to an ex-convict, who had served a jail term.”

She, therefore, dismissed the application for lack of merit.

The case was adjourned to October 3 and 5, 2018 for continuation of trial.

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