The Court of Appeal in Lagos sat this morning to consider the application for bail for PDP jailbird, Chief Bode George, on health grounds. They adjourned the case until December 1st 2009, meaning that for at least until the 1st week in December, George and his co-accused will have to be content with the culinary delights of Kirikiri prison.
But intensely visible by his absence at today's sittingwas Judge Bode Rhodes-Vivour, the lead judge, who was said to be “sick.” It is some measure of significance, however, that all the panel members purposely travelled to Lagos from Abuja, where all federal judges have been meeting at a Judges Conference.
Justice Rhodes-Vivour is the judicial officer that Saharareporters identified as the arrowhead of the plot to spirit Chief George out of jail by way of a favorable ruling, and he has since come under intense scrutiny and pressure from the public and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Last week the EFCC lawyer, Festus Keyamo, wrote a petition to the president of the Court of Appeal requesting that Rhodes-Vivour recuse himself on the basis of evidence that he had tried to meddle in the trial and final sentencing of George at the Lagos High Court.
In the court this morning, lawyers to George brought up additional applications asking to consolidate the bail application of the four other persons jailed along with Chief George, but EFCC counsel objected. He argued that the EFCC was only served the notice of appeal pertaining only to George. The panel consulted for a few minutes and agreed that the applications be consolidated, while the EFCC legal team is fully notified.
Lawyers at the sitting noted that it was curious that the Court of Appeal panel in Lagos hearing Bode George's application for bail is the only one sitting today throughout Nigeria as justices of the Supreme Court, Court of appeals and high courts across Nigeria are deliberating on the state of the Nigerian judiciary at the Abuja's "Judges Conference".
A civil society source told Saharareporters that the plot to free George is still in high gear going by the prompt and quick manner an adjournment was dispatched by the justices. He also drew attention to the shortness of the adjournment: while Bode George's hearing is in four weeks, all other cases in the Court of Appeal Lagos division today were adjourned till February 2010.
"I can see Bode George enjoying a great Christmas present," another analyst suggested.
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