Metuh, 77 others got N1.4b for not a thing – Witness

A Federal High Court in Abuja heard on Tuesday how the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) paid N1.4billion to 78 firms including Destral Investment Limited owned by the spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, non-existing contracts.

The information is contained in a document – an electronic mandate – tendered before the court by the prosecution in the trial of Metuh before Justice Okon Abang.

The document, tendered through an official of the ONSA, Bali Ndam, was said to have been issued by former NSA, Sambo Dasuki, to the Abuja branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria, authorizing payment of various sums of money running into N1.4billion.

“What is written on the document is payment for security services,” Ndam, a Legal Adviser at the ONSA, said while testifying in the case. Ndam was led in evidence by lead prosecution lawyer, Sylvanus Tahir.

Although the prosecution accused Metuh of receiving N400million from the ONSA for the presidential campaign of the PDP, Ndam, when confronted with the document by Metuh’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), read out the document, where it stated that the ONSA paid Metuh for providing “three operational vehicles.”

Ndam, who testified as the third prosecution witness, said investigation into the arms scandal was informed by a petition from the incumbent NSA, Babagana Monguno, dated November 28, 2015.

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