Presiding magistrate, Chukwuemeka Nweke, has varied the bail condition of journalist, Jones Abiri, who has been in the detention of Department of State Security for over two years without trial.
After cry by local and international organizations, the DSS charged Abiri to court, accusing him of bombing oil pipelines, sending a threat to international oil companies and also demanding money from them.
Abiri was initially asked to provide two sureties who must be senior civil servants on at least Level-15 along with a bail bond of #2million.
Abiri’s lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, had asked that his client’s bail condition be reviewed, as he cannot meet up with demands of the court.
The magistrate, Nweke, heeded the prayer and said one of the two sureties who would be provided should not be below level-8 of the civil service.
He added that letter of appointment and letter of last promotion of the civil servants must be tendered to the court.
The other surety, according to the court could be an executive member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), with landed property in Abuja and original land documents must be deposited to the court.
The magistrate further adjourned Abiri’s case to August 16 for further hearing.
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