The Director General of National Broadcasting Commission ( NBC) Mr. Emeka Mba is still being detained at the facility of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) since he was arrested last Monday.
THISDAY gathered that Mba was granted an administrative bail on Wednesday, but was unable to meet the bail conditions.
One of the Directors in the NBC who visited Mba at the EFCC headquarters, noted that the bail conditions were so stringent, that it could not be met since Wednesday.
It is however not clear if EFCC secured a remand order from a competent court, which could empower the commission to detain a suspect beyond the 48 hours period stipulated by the law.
It is also not clear if the commission had secured the order before directive of the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory Justice Ishaq Bello, who ordered magistrates within his jurisdiction to stop granting remand orders to EFCC, without arraignment.
Bello, had on Wednesday ordered magistrates in the FCT to stop granting remand orders to the anti-graft agency with immediate effect.
The Chief Judge who observed that EFCC had in the past relied on such warrants from magistrates in Abuja to detain suspects beyond the maximum 48 hours allowed by the constitution, decried the practice.
Spokesperson of EFCC Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed that Mba was in custody, declined further details.
When pointedly asked if the commission had secured a remand order to detain Mba, Uwujaren said: "How does that matter? What matters is that he is still in custody, I cannot speak further on it."
Mba was on Monday arrested by EFCC operatives, for allegedly concealing N15 billion that the commission was meant to transfer to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The arrest followed a petition against Mba and his management team, alleging that they concealed the sum from the federal government despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that all government funds must be transferred to the account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Investigations revealed that the N15 billion was part of the N34 billion realised from the sale of the 700MHz spectrum band to MTN Nigeria Limited
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