Court grants Nasarawa women protesters bail with stiff condition

• PDP alleges Sule behind women's arrest • Gov innocent of protesters’ ordeal

AMAGISTRATE court in Nasarawa State has, with stringent conditions, granted bail to the 38 women protesting the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict on the governorship suit between Governor Abdullahi Sule of All Progressives Congress ( APC) and David Ombugadu of Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP).

The court granted the women bail following earlier applications by their counsel.

Attorney General of the state, Labaran Magaji, who took over the matter from the police, joined the defendants’ counsel, Ayiwulu Baba Ayiwulu, to beg the judge to grant the 38 accused the bail as earlier filed.

When hearing resumed, yesterday, the presiding magistrate, Mohammed AbdullahiLanze, granted the protesters bail with conditions. The conditions include providing a serving director in the state, who presents his emplo yment letter, identity card, statement of account and must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court. However , the defendants pleaded with the court to reconsider the conditions, given the stringency. Ayiwulu argued that some of the accused were just farmers and passers- by who were arrested by the police. He noted that a member of the Nasara wa House of Assembly, Esson Mairiga, had offered himself as surety for the 38 women.

NASARAWA PDP, in a statement, yesterday, accused Governor Abdullahi Sule of being behind the arrest and confinement of the women protesters.

The Chairman, Francis Orogu, noted that Sule had not been comfortable with the protesters, who insisted that the March 28 governorship election was manipulated by the electoral umpire in favour of Sule.