JUST IN: 5 detained IPOB members released by Abia court

FIVE members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who were arrested last year on their way from a visit to Nnamdi Kanu , their detained leader in Abuja have been granted bail by an Abia State magistrate’s court sitting in Umuahia.

They were each granted bail for N200,000 with a guarantor in the same amount.

However, the court ordered that they be remanded in prison until the bail conditions are perfected.

Reports say they were arraigned on a two-count charge of unlawful association and criminal conspiracy with a militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).

The prosecution witnesses alleged that the service got intelligence over the move initiated by the IPOB members that led to their arrest. He tendered some text messages found in their  mobile phones before the court.

The defence counsel for IPOB members argued that his clients's constitutionally-guaranteed right to free association remains sacred as enshrined in the 1999 constitution which allows for freedom to visit anyone anywhere within Nigeria any legal inhibition and urged the court to grant them bail.

Thus the presiding judge had no option but to grant the wish of the defence counsel and released the suspects on bail.