Federal High Court Grants ₦5m Bail to Activist ‘Justice Crack’ in DSS Prosecution
The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted bail to activist and social media commentator Justice Chidiebere, popularly known as “Justice Crack”, in the sum of five million naira.
In her ruling, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik ordered that the bail bond be secured by one surety in the same amount.
The court held that the proposed surety must reside within the jurisdiction of the court at a fixed address for at least four years and must deposit proof of residence at the registry, either through a tenancy agreement or certificate of occupancy.
The surety is also required to be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 15, with evidence of at least three months’ salary, a letter of authentication from the immediate head of department, and proof of pensionable employment.
The court further directed that the surety must deposit his passport with the court.
The first prosecution witness, identified as Uruntu Douglas, a DSS operative, told the court that he came to know the defendant during investigations after he was transferred to the Department of State Services by the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps.
The witness said the defendant voluntarily made an extrajudicial statement, which was recorded in the presence of his lawyers.
According to the witness, soldiers had sent pictures to the defendant, who allegedly made videos from the images and posted them on social media without first confirming the authenticity of the materials with military sources.
He further told the court that investigators extracted data from the defendant’s phone, including videos allegedly posted online, conversations between the defendant and some soldiers, chats with his godfather allegedly discussing protests, as well as excerpts from his social media pages.
The witness added that a certificate of compliance was issued and signed by a superior officer after the forensic process was concluded.
During proceedings, defence counsel, Sam Amadi, informed the court that the defence had not been served with the investigation report and other documents sought to be tendered by the prosecution.
The prosecution, however, described the failure as an oversight and tendered its apology before the court.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik subsequently admitted the DSS investigation report as Exhibit A.
The prosecution also tendered an iPhone allegedly recovered from the defendant, a flash drive said to contain videos posted on social media platforms, conversations extracted from the device, and the certificate of compliance.
The defence objected to the admissibility of the flash drive, arguing that its contents had not been described or played before the court.
Meanwhile, the matter has been adjourned to the 25th of May for continuation of the trial, with the first prosecution witness yet to be discharged.
