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Mr Abiri was arraigned on May 24 for alleged economic sabotage and terrorism by the Nigerian government.
According to the charge sheet seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Abiri reportedly sent text messages from his phone number to Shell and Agip officials, ”threatening to blow their oil installations if his demands were not met”.
The Bayelsa-based journalist was also accused of leading a gang of activists to blow up pipelines in Bayelsa.The charges came nine months after Mr Abiri was freed from the custody of the State Security Service, after spending two years there without trial.He said he was being targeted for his media work that put a spotlight on the controversial conduct of oil companies and the Nigerian government in the Niger Delta. His ordeal has been a major topic of discussion amongst media rights advocates, with the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalist asking for all charges to be dropped. The court presided over by Ijeoma Ojukwu, on June 24 granted Mr Abiri bail saying that the crime for which he is charged for, is bailable ”under special circumstance as provided under section 161 of the Administrative of Criminal Justice Act, 2015”. As part of the bail conditions, the judge ordered that the defendants pay N100 million with one surety in like sum.“Applicant must remain in jail until he fulfils the bail condition,” Mrs Ojukwu added.Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, Monday evening, his lawyer, Samuel Ogala, said they were working on meeting the bail conditions. According to him, even though the court is on vacation, ”once those bail conditions are met, Mr Abiri would be released”.“Once that is done, a vacation judge would be assigned to hear the matter.
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