The Greater Accra Regional Tribunal on Thursday turned down an appeal for bail by a Nigerian suspect in a drugs case on the basis that he had been in custody for over two years.

Modestus Nidimakor told the court that he had been on remand for the past two years, and that his wife and family in Nigeria are not aware that he is languishing in a Ghanaian jail as they think he is in Spain, where he is domiciled.

“My family members will be thinking I have vanished from this world, because they do not know my whereabouts,” he said, creating laughter in the courtroom.

Nidimakor, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of drug possession and attempted exportation of drugs, also appealed to the court to order prison authorities to make telephone facilities available to him to enable him to contact his relatives in Nigeria to arrange a counsel for him.

The prosecutor, Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, a senior state attorney, earlier told the court that Nidimakor arrived at the Kotoka International Airport on January 16, 2006, to board a KLM flight to Amsterdam, Holland.

She said while going through departure formalities, officials from the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) picked him on suspicion of possessing narcotic drugs.

The prosecutor said the accused person was taken to the 37 Military Hospital where an X’ray examination proved that he was carrying a foreign material in his stomach.

She said Nidimakor expelled 73 thumb size pellets, weighing 959 grammes which was sent to the Food and Drugs Board for examination where they were confirmed to be cocaine.

She said the accused person was subsequently charged with the offence.

The case has been adjourned to Wednesday May 14.


Source: The Ghanaian Times