According to Trust News Africa, Justice Lifu while admitting her to bail, said that one of the sureties must be the defendant’s spouse or blood relative with a variable source of income and also residing within the jurisdiction of the court.
The judge ordered the sureties to deposit a passport photograph for each, and directed the defendant to also deposit her international passport, if any.
Justice Lifu agreed with the arguments of her lawyer that the offence with which Okoli was charged was a bailable one.
Justice Lifu further held that pursuant to Section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The judge added that denying her bail is a wrong application of discretion, which will amount to a pre-trial judgment and judicial rascality.
He equally based the ruling on the health status of Okoli.
He adjourned the matter until June 13 for further hearing.
The police claim that Okoli violated the 2015 Cybercrime Act when she made comments about tomato paste made by Erisco Foods Limited online.
The Inspector-General (I-G) of Police charged her with two counts related to cybercrime and brought her before Justice Lifu.
She pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
In September 2023, Mrs. Okoli was taken into custody by the police after she wrote in a review that the tomato paste she had purchased from a market tasted sweet.
The paste that she referred to in her review is the Nagiko tomato mix, which is manufactured by Erisco Foods Limited, Lagos.
The review was posted by her on September 17, 2023, on her Facebook page, “Chioma Egodi Jnr.”
A few days after Okoli’s post, police operatives arrested her in Lagos and flew her to Abuja for interrogation following a complaint by Erisco Foods Limited.
Okoli’s assertion that the Nagiko tomato paste tastes sweet was deemed “untrue and unfounded” by Erisco Foods Limited in a statement.
