ABUJA — The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has issued a strong warning over what it describes as a growing abuse of the bail system by courts and law enforcement agencies, saying excessive and unrealistic bail conditions are effectively keeping thousands of accused persons behind bars despite being granted bail.
In a statement released on Thursday, NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, accused courts and security agencies—including the Nigeria Police Force, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and others—of increasingly imposing conditions that are virtually impossible for many Nigerians to satisfy.
According to the NBA, demands for sureties who must be senior civil servants on Grade Levels 16 or 17, alongside requirements for landed properties worth hundreds of millions of naira, have transformed bail from a constitutional safeguard into what it called “a tool of pre-trial detention.”
“The consequence is that many persons who are constitutionally presumed innocent and have ostensibly been granted bail remain incarcerated because the conditions attached to their release are beyond their reach,” Osigwe said.
The association warned that the trend threatens fundamental constitutional protections, including the right to personal liberty and the presumption of innocence.
The NBA stressed that bail was never intended to serve as punishment before conviction but rather as a mechanism to ensure that accused persons appear in court while retaining their freedom pending trial.
“The law is settled that bail conditions must be reasonable, practical and capable of being fulfilled by the accused person,” the statement noted.
Osigwe cited the Supreme Court decision in Suleman & Anor v. Commissioner of Police, Plateau State (2008), where the apex court held that the objective of bail is to grant pre-trial freedom to an accused person whose attendance in court can be secured through appropriate conditions.
The NBA expressed particular concern over what it described as the routine imposition of conditions disconnected from Nigeria’s economic realities.
“Conditions requiring sureties who are serving civil servants on specific salary grades, ownership of landed properties of extraordinary value, or other burdensome requirements effectively convert the grant of bail into a denial of bail,” the association said.
The legal body also referenced the Court of Appeal’s decision in Dasuki v. Director-General, State Security Service & Ors (2019), where the appellate court criticised the practice of requiring senior public servants as mandatory sureties.
According to the NBA, the court held that such requirements are largely unknown in modern legal systems and may conflict with public service regulations and anti-corruption objectives.
The association further pointed out that Section 165(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 expressly provides that bail conditions must not be excessive, even where judges exercise discretion.
“Judicial discretion, though wide, must always be exercised judiciously, reasonably, and in a manner consistent with constitutional guarantees,” Osigwe stated.
The NBA argued that the continued restriction of acceptable sureties to senior civil servants lacks any legal or empirical justification.
“There is no evidence that civil servants are inherently more reliable as sureties than other law-abiding citizens,” the association said, adding that such conditions unfairly limit who can stand as a guarantor and create unnecessary barriers to accessing bail.
The association called on courts nationwide to align their decisions with constitutional provisions, the ACJA, and established judicial precedents by ensuring that bail conditions remain fair, proportionate and attainable.
It also urged judicial officers to remember that every accused person remains innocent until proven guilty by a competent court.
“As guardians of the rule of law, we must collectively ensure that the constitutional right to bail remains meaningful and effective,” Osigwe said.
“Bail should not become a privilege reserved only for those with extraordinary means or connections. It must remain what the law intended it to be—a mechanism for securing attendance at trial while preserving the liberty and dignity of persons who have not been convicted of any offence.”
The intervention comes amid growing concerns about prison congestion and prolonged pre-trial detention across Nigeria’s criminal justice system, with legal practitioners warning that unattainable bail conditions are increasingly becoming a silent route to incarceration without conviction.
