Omatseye appeals five years imprisonment, seeks bail

Ramon Oladimeji

The convicted former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Raymond Omatseye, has urged the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal to set aside the five-year jail term imposed on him by a Federal High Court in Lagos.

Omatseye was convicted of N1.5bn contract scam and sentenced to five years imprisonment on May 20, 2016 by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia.

Not pleased with the lower court’s verdict, he approached the Court of Appeal on May 23 with a four-ground  notice of appeal, wherein he described Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia’s judgment as unreasonable and urged the appellate court to overturn it and set him free.

He subsequently appeared before Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia on Friday with an application, urging the court to release him on bail pending the decision of the Court of Appeal.

His lawyer, Mr. Sina Sofola (SAN), urged Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia to admit his client to bail on self-recognition, saying he had raised substantial and arguable issues in his notice of appeal, which he believed were capable of making the appellate court to overrule his conviction and sentence.

Sofola said keeping Omatseye in prison would deprive his children of parental care, which he had been providing for three of them in the absence of their mother, who, he said, was in United Kingdom looking after one of their children suffering from “severe medical conditions.”

According to Sofola, the said child of Omatseye was being treated in the UK for “epilepsy, atypical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with mitral regurgitation, atrial fibrillation and enuresis.”

He said the said child also had difficulty in learning and was suffering from myriads of other medical conditions, which prevent him from sleeping at night.

Sofola added, “With the applicant’s wife staying with their sick child in the UK for purposes of proximity to the attending hospital and specialised health care, it has become the responsibility of the applicant to provide parental care for their remaining three children in the absence of their mother, which has now been affected by his conviction and subsequent remand at the Ikoyi prison to serve the sentence imposed on him by this honourable court.”

Sofola said Omatseye, who was a lawyer with 28 years post-call experience,  was prepared to expeditiously pursue his appeal, as he intended to quickly clear his name, so that he would be able to “protect and preserve his ability to remain a legal practitioner.”

But the EFCC, through its lawyer, Mrs. Kehinde Bode-Ayeni, urged Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia not to grant Omatseye bail, saying there were no exceptional and unusual circumstances to warrant granting the bail.

“The defendant/applicant has failed to show any special circumstances or reason to enable this honourable court exercise its discretion in his favour to admit the defendant/applicant to bail. We, therefore, urge this honourable court to dismiss this application,” Bode-Ayeni said.

After listening to arguments from both counsel on Friday, Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia adjourned till June 6, 2016 for ruling.

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