Intorduction
The concept of bail is very important in the administration of justice in any legal system and this is because the law is well settled that an accused person is considered innocent until he has been proven guilty in a court of law.1 Thus, where an accused person is arrested on the suspicion/allegation that he has committed a crime, the law provides that such an accused person must not be unduly detained in police custody as a form of punishment because the mere fact that a person has been alleged to have committed an offence does not necessarily mean that he is guilty of the offence.
Section 35 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria guarantees the right to personal liberty of all Nigerians and Section 35 (5) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria provides that an accused person who has been arrested on the allegation of having committed an offence must be charged to court within 24 hours where a court of competent jurisdiction is located within a radius of forty kilometers from the police station; and where a court is located within a radius above forty kilometers from the police station, the accused person must be charged to court within 48 hours or such longer period as a court might consider reasonable.
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