A authorized practitioner, Onyeakalam Alilionwu, has petitioned the chief decide of the Federal High Court, Abuja, over the continued detention of his consumer, Okechukwu Ugenyi, regardless of being granted bail by the Federal High Court 1, Awka, Anambra State.
In a renewed petition dated sixteenth October, 2026, Alilionwu known as for an intensive investigation into the alleged roles of the deputy chief registrar, Mba Nkem, and a court docket clerk, Mrs Ijeoma Okoye, in circumstances surrounding the continued incarceration of his consumer.
The lawyer alleged that irregularities within the processing of Ugenyi’s bail circumstances, together with the alleged disappearance of his case file and conflicting reviews on the verification of his surety’s residential tackle, had pissed off efforts to safe his launch.
According to the petition, Ugenyi was granted bail on tenth July, 2026, however his attorneys subsequently encountered difficulties finishing the bail course of.
The petition said that when the authorized crew returned to the court docket on thirteenth July, they have been knowledgeable that the case file was with the decide, who was making some corrections.
However, the next day, a court docket official allegedly advised the consumer’s relative that just one specific official, recognized as OC/Legal, Zone 13, A.N. Oboh, may delay the processing of the bail.
The lawyer additional alleged that the verification of the surety’s residential tackle, submitted by Mrs Okonkwo Ngozi Peace, grew to become contentious after the case file was reportedly declared lacking on 16 July.
Although the file was reportedly recovered the next day, the petition claimed that the verification course of was delayed, with the official initially assigned to conduct it allegedly failing to go to the surety’s tackle.
The petition additional alleged that on 23 July, the authorized crew was knowledgeable that the deputy chief registrar had locked the consumer’s file in her workplace and travelled to Enugu State.
It additionally raised questions over a detrimental verification report allegedly submitted by Oboh, which the attorneys stated was subsequently disputed by one other police official.
According to the petition, on 24 July, the officer-in-charge of authorized at Zone 13 Police Headquarters, Ukpo, CSP Innocent Obi, directed that one other verification train be carried out.
The train was subsequently carried out by Inspector Edith Okonkwo on 25 July, and the report was submitted to the court docket bailiff, Anthony C. Anoh, on 27 July.
The petition, nevertheless, alleged that the deputy chief registrar and the court docket clerk subsequently requested the defence counsel to jot down to the decide requesting a change of prosecutor, a request the attorneys stated they promptly submitted.
But the authorized crew claimed that the court docket officers later knowledgeable them that the decide couldn’t act on the request as a result of the court docket had proceeded on trip.
Raising questions over the circumstances surrounding the verification train, Alilionwu requested the chief decide to determine who was authorised to conduct the verification, whether or not the preliminary detrimental report was genuinely ready by the police official whose identify appeared on it, and why one other verification report was allegedly not hooked up to the court docket information.
The lawyer additionally expressed concern concerning the omission of sure paperwork when his crew utilized for Certified True Copies of the proceedings on 17 August 2026.
He listed the lacking paperwork because the ruling granting his consumer bail, information of court docket proceedings and paperwork obtained by the court docket in the course of the verification train.
The petition additional alleged potential conflicts of curiosity within the dealing with of the prison proceedings, claiming that Oboh had prosecuted a number of instances involving the identical nominal complainant, Chief Pius Ezeigwe, since 2018.
It particularly referenced two instances involving members of the Umuduke kindred, one among which listed Ugenyi as a defendant.
Expressing concern about his consumer’s welfare, Alilionwu additional claimed that Ugenyi had been denied entry to remedy and medical examination, attaching a duplicate of his consumer’s medical report back to the petition.
He warned that the detention may proceed past the subsequent adjourned date, 17 February 2027, except the chief decide intervened.
The lawyer subsequently urged the chief decide to invoke the powers of his workplace below Section 249 of the Constitution to analyze the allegations, guarantee accountability and forestall any compromise of judicial integrity.
He additionally requested that the information contained within the renewed petition and an earlier criticism dated 18 September 2026 be independently verified.
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