Nigerian Bar Association warns bail conditions too strict

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe, has raised an alarm over what he describes as excessively stringent bail conditions imposed by courts and law enforcement agencies, warning that the practice is undermining the constitutional purpose of bail and effectively detaining people before trial.

In a statement released on Thursday, Osigwe said there is a growing trend where bail conditions set by courts and agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, are becoming impossible for many defendants to meet. He specifically criticized the frequent demands for sureties who are senior civil servants on high grade levels or who own properties worth hundreds of millions of naira.

Osigwe argued that these requirements have transformed bail from a mechanism to ensure court attendance into an indirect tool for pre-trial detention. Many accused persons, who are presumed innocent under the law, remain in custody despite being granted bail because they cannot fulfill such conditions, he stated. Bail is neither a punishment nor a mechanism for imposing pre-trial incarceration...