BAIL; FREE OR NOT SO FREE?

Many Nigerians do not understand the concept of bail, there have been questions about whether bail is free in police stations or whether it should be free. In some countries, offenders are required to post bail after submitting a form of security. In Nigeria, the police is empowered to grant bail for a reasonable sum, the law however fails to state how much a reasonable sum is which leaves its interpretation very vague and relative. It should be noted that the intention of this article is only to share information and the services of a lawyer may be of importance if one happens to be in a situation where bail is required.

Bail is the temporary release of a person who has been arrested, charged to court or imprisoned, pending the conclusion of investigation or the determination of the case against him, or the determination of his appeal against conviction. There are 2 types of bail; police bail and court bail, thus bail can be granted by the Police or by the Courts.

In the Court the general rule is that anyone who is not arraigned for an offence punishable by death can be admitted to bail. The law provides that anyone arrested must be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time or the person should be released on bail. Reasonable time is defined as 24 hours after arrest where a court is situated within 40 kms from the Police station and 48 hours where the court is far away from the station. The process for applying for bail at the station is in writing, the person applying  shall produce a surety and the application shall include the passport photograph of the surety, if conditions are set for the bail,the suspect must satisfy the conditions before he is released. Bail is free in the police station however in reality this is far from the truth as some policemen demand payment for such bail applications even though the monies collected are never rendered to their superiors.