Abuja: An Abuja High Court on Monday adjourned ruling on the bail application of former Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, until Thursday.
Ngige is to remain at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the ruling.
Earlier, Justice Maryam Hassan ordered his remand in custody after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned him on eight counts of fraud and acceptance of bribes on Friday, December 12.
The anti-graft agency accused the former minister of awarding contracts to his associates, an offence said to violate Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
Other charges include the alleged collection of bribes from some of the associates, which the commission said contravenes Section 17(a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and is punishable under Section 17(c) of the same Act.
Ngige, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The defendant is a former governor of Anambra State, who served on the Peoples Democratic Party platform from May 2003 to March 2006. He also served as Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment from 2015 to 2023, during the administration of late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
At the resumed hearing of his bail application, counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Sylvanus Tahir, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, submitted that Ngige was a flight risk who could leave the country at will.
Counsel to the defendant, Mr Patrick Ikwueto, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, urged the court to grant bail on four grounds.
Ikwueto argued that Ngige could not be a flight risk because his international passport was stolen.
“Where will he go without the visa? The defendant is not a flight risk and has no capacity, factual and legal, to leave the country,” he said.
However, Tahir told the court that Ngige violated the terms of the administrative bail earlier granted to him by the commission.
He said the former minister requested his passport on September 5 to travel for a medical appointment and promised to return it, but failed to do so or formally report it stolen.
“He made a promise to return it by November 19 2025. The defendant did not return it. His signature on the affidavit of loss shows that the defendant came back on November14 2025. It was never forwarded to us.
“Between the date he returned and the date he undertook, a clear five days elapsed. He did not turn himself in, nor return the travel documents,” Tahir said.
He added that the arrest of Ngige was triggered by a report from one of his sureties, Abubakar Mohammed, who approached the commission to retrieve the passport after the defendant returned to Nigeria.
On Dec. 10, the commission arrested Ngige at his residence on Justice Mohammed Bello Road, Abuja.
Tahir further noted that the report of the stolen documents submitted by the defendant was dated Dec. 6 and received on the day of his arrest, describing it as an afterthought.
He also pointed out that the affidavit of loss was obtained in Nigeria, not in the United Kingdom, where the alleged theft occurred.
“The defendant is in gross breach of the administrative bail conditions granted to him and in contravention of Section 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. This calls for extreme caution,” he said.
In response, Ikwueto argued that the law requires the loss of a passport to be reported to the local police, which Ngige had done.
He insisted that the passport was stolen and that the commission was not contesting the validity of the travel document.
Ikwueto urged the court to consider that the defendant has no prior criminal record and is unlikely to commit the alleged offences again. He added that Ngige could not interfere with evidence, as witness statements had already been taken.
He also asked the court to consider the age and medical condition of the defendant in exercising its discretion.
“Exercise your discretion to impose whatever favourable conditions that will make him stand for his trial,” he pleaded.
After hearing the submissions, Justice Hassan adjourned ruling on the bail application until Thursday and ordered that the defendant remain at the Kuje Custodial Centre pending the ruling.
