Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja has ordered that a Nigerian whistleblower, Isaac Bristol, believed to be behind the prominent whistleblower account “PIDOM Nigeria”, be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre till September 23.
Isaac entered the dock at about 12:30pm and pleaded not guilty to the nine counts charge bordering on cybercrime related offences filed against him by the police.
He was arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) for mobilising and soliciting support to “unduly compel” the government to act or abstain from certain acts through the #EndBadGovernance protest, false money-laundering allegations against President Bola Tinubu, and unlawfully obtaining, retaining and disseminating classified secret documents in contravention of the official Secret Act 1962.
His lawyer, Abubakar Marshal, after mentioning his appearance took the permission of the court and asked Deji Adeyanju to continue with the case
Adeyanju urged the court to grant his client bail on health grounds but the oral application was rejected by the judge as he asked him to come up with a formal and written application for bail.
He also pleaded with the judge to order the defendant to be remanded in the custody of the police owing to his health challenges.
The judge ignored all the entreaties made by Adeyanju as he ordered the defendant to be remanded in the Kuje Correctional Centre till September 23 for the hearing of bail application.
Isaac who was critically sick was coughing profusely in the court after he had spent 28 days in the underground cell at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Area 10 in Abuja.