High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Gwarimpa, Abuja, on Thursday granted bail to former Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige.
Ngige had been remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre following his arraignment on December 12.
He is standing trial on an eight-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), bordering on abuse of office and the alleged acceptance of gifts valued at about N2.2 billion.
According to the EFCC, Ngige allegedly received the gifts from contractors of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) while serving as the supervising minister between September 2015 and May 2023.
In her ruling, Justice Mariam Hassan ordered that Ngige be released on bail under the same conditions as the administrative bail earlier granted by the EFCC.
The court directed that he must provide a surety who is a director in the federal civil service and who owns landed property within the court’s jurisdiction.
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Justice Hassan further ruled that since Ngige claimed to have misplaced his international passport, the surety must deposit his own international passport with the court. The passport will only be returned once Ngige produces a replacement for his own.
The judge noted that the offences for which Ngige is being tried are bailable and emphasized that stringent bail conditions were unnecessary in such cases.
She ordered that Ngige remain in custody at the Kuje prison until he fulfills the bail requirements and adjourned the case to January 28 and 29, 2026, for trial.
Ngige is the sole defendant in the charge. In the first count, he is accused of using his office between September 2015 and May 2023 to confer undue advantage on Cezimo Nigeria Limited, a company allegedly linked to his associate, Ezebinwa Amarachukwu Charles, its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.