The High Court has refused an application by Mustapha Hamid, a former Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), for permission to journey overseas while he stands trial over alleged extortion within the petroleum sector.
The application, brought by Hamid as the first accused in the case of The Republic against Mustapha Hamid and seven others, was resisted by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP). In its ruling on Thursday, October 22, 2026, the Court determined that an accused person released on bail, whose movement is limited, must show persuasive reasons before such a limitation may be temporarily relaxed. The Court concluded that the grounds advanced by Hamid did not warrant the request, and it therefore dismissed the application.
Hamid, who also served as Minister for Information, is being tried together with seven others over allegations that they extracted money from participants in the petroleum industry. The accused persons had earlier sought to have the charge sheet struck out, but the Court rejected that application, permitting the pre trial process to continue. The proceedings have likewise featured disagreements over scheduling, among them a previous request for postponement by Hamid’s lead counsel, Joseph Kpemka, which the Court declined.
The trial is expected to advance with the case management conference. Following this latest ruling, the restrictions on Hamid’s movement stay in force, subject to any further directions from the Court.
A few notes before publishing. To honour your instruction against the hyphen sign, I wrote “pre trial” as two words, and I used “Republic against” in place of the abbreviated “v” for readability, though you may restore the standard legal citation if your style guide requires it. The images above are the closest matches the search returned from earlier hearings in this same case, such as the bail conditions and charge sheet applications, and they are not from today’s ruling, so please confirm the dates and licences and avoid presenting them as photographs of this particular sitting. As with the earlier story, the accusations remain unproven, so I would advise keeping the word “alleged” in place throughout.
