Frederick Faseun, leader of a notorious ethnic militia group in southwest Nigeria accused of killing and maiming over 10,000 people since 1999, was Wednesday granted bail over his deteriorating health condition, state media reported.
Faseun, 71, has been in detention since October 2005, with fiveother members of the banned Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), a part ethnic militia and part vigilante group promoting self determination for the Yoruba ethnic group in southwest Nigeria.
They were charged before the court by the government for treasonable felony, illegal possession of prohibited firearms and for belonging to an unlawful society.
“The court presided over by Justice Anwuli Chikere admitted himto bail in the sum of 50 million naira (384,615 U.S. dollars) and a surety, who must be a first class traditional ruler with a landed property in Maitama or Asokoro District of Abuja,” the official News Agency of Nigeria reported.
“His bail was consequent upon a fresh application filed by his counsel, Kayode Ajulo, over his deteriorating health condition,” it added. Ajulo had told the court that his client was due for a repeat of an “open heart by- pass surgery” carried out on him in 1984 at a U.S. hospital.
Faseun collapsed in court and was rushed to the hospital on March 16.
Prosecution lead counsel and Director of Public Prosecution in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Salihu Aliyu, had said that if Faseun were granted bail, he should be restricted to the U.S. hospital where he was due for the check-up.
Application for bail of the accused persons had all been refused before by the court on the ground that the offenses they were charged for were not ordinarily bailable.