A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has rejected a bail application filed by Mr Fred Ajudua, who is being prosecuted for allegedly defrauding a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, of $5.9 million.
Trial Judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye dismissed the bail application for lack of merit. 
In her ruling on the application, Justice Ipaye, held that though the evidence before the court showed that Mr Ajudua was suffering from complicated ailments as a result of having a solitary kidney, that factor alone did not entitle him to bail.
She said Ajudua’s antecedents in a separate criminal matter before another Lagos State High Court revealed that he not only jumped bail but also allegedly interfered with the prosecution’s witness.
In the light of his antecedents and the gravity of the charge, the judge held that the chances of him absconding and jumping bail if granted were high.
After dismissing the bail application, the court adjourned till June 30 for commencement of trial.
Ajudua was charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly conspiring with others (now at large) to perpetrate the fraud between November 2004 and June 2005.
According to the EFCC, the defendant defrauded Lt Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi while they were both on remand at Kirikiri Prison in Lagos for separate offences.
The commission said Mr Ajudua obtained the money from Bamaiyi by claiming that it represented the professional fees charged by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) to handle his case.
He is also alleged to have claimed that the money would help to facilitate Bamaiyi’s release from prison.
