What Self-Recognizance Bail Means” — Lawyer Explains After BLord Bail Ruling
A Nigerian lawyer has sparked widespread reactions online after breaking down the meaning of “self-recognizance bail” following reports that businessman BLord was granted bail under the condition.
In a viral video, the lawyer explained that self-recognizance bail means a defendant is released based on their personal assurance to appear in court, without the need for a surety.
He said
“So BLord has been granted bail, and he was granted bail on self-recognizance. I’m not prophet but I know many Nigerians are confused and asking, ‘What does self-recognizance mean?’ I’m here to explain it to you. Don’t worry. Even if you’re not actually asking the question, you must still know it because you’re watching this video.
You know, normally, if you’re poor just like some of you that are watching me now if you want to apply for bail, they will say: ‘Bring surety.’ That surety is somebody that will take you on bail. So when you jump bail, the other person is responsible. They don’t trust you enough to be coming to court, because when you’re giving an undertaking to be coming to court and not jumping bail, they don’t trust you.
Because you’re poor. They don’t usually trust poor people. Yeah, they know that you probably want to run away because you are poor. So they tell you to bring surety someone that will be held responsible if you run away. And that’s why most of the time, when they give bail, those people will still be in prison because they’ve not seen surety. Even the people that are supposed to stand as surety for them their family members they don’t trust them.My brother, if you’re poor nobody will trust you. But self-recognizance is now: ‘We know you, we know you have a lot of businesses you cannot possibly leave them and run away from the country. You have a lot of money, so we trust you to be coming to court. We don’t need any surety ‘you are enough surety for yourself.’Chai see hustle oh! They will say we trust you. You have high standing in society. So go. We trust you to be coming to court. Even if he jumped bail, they don’t have anybody holding responsible. So the only thing they told him to do is submit his passport and it was granted bail on self recognizance because you are of high standing in society, so go.The moral lesson of this video is: Hustle oh! Don’t ever be broke. Nobody will trust you. If you’re broke and you’re inside somewhere, something gets missing you’re one number suspect you have to hustle. Thank you.”
