A federal high court sitting in Calabar, Cross River state, on Thursday granted Agba Jalingo, publisher of CrossRiverWatch, bail in the sum of N10million.
Jalingo has been in detention for 174 days.
The journalist was charged with conspiracy, terrorism, treasonable felony and an attempt to topple the state government.
The charges followed a publication by the Jalingo detailing how the governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade allegedly approved and diverted N500 million meant for the state’s microfinance bank.
At the hearing on Thursday, Justice Sule Shuaibu, granted him bail in the sum N10 million following an application from his lawyer, Attah Ochinke.
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The court ordered that sureties would make a refundable deposit of N700,000 to the court registry to perfect the bail.
Jalingo had been denied bail on two occasions by Justice Simon Amobeda, who was caught in a leaked audio saying the journalist’s life was in his hands.
After the recording was made public, Jalingo asked the chief judge of the federal high court to reassign his case.
Amobeda later recused himself from the matter following allegations of a lack of fair trial by the journalist.
