EFCC Arrests Metuh, Arraigns Ex-PDP Chair
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had on Tuesday arrested the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh.
Metuh was picked up at his residence, located at Drive One, Prince and Princess Estate in the Games Village area of Abuja.
Our correspondent gathered that four officials of the commission arrived at his residence in the early hours of the day and asked him to follow them to the commission’s headquarters at Wuse Zone 2.
Metuh’s Special Assistant, Mr. Richard Ihediwa, confirmed the arrest of his boss.
Ihediwa said, “Upon enquiry on the reasons for the invitation (by the EFCC officials), the officials stated that he had some issues to clear at the commission.
“They also said he was not being arrested but friendly invited. The operatives, four in number, came in a white unmarked Toyota Hiace bus.”
He added that Metuh was still being kept at the commission’s headquarters while his lawyers were making frantic efforts to reach him.
The PDP spokesman had said on Monday that he had yet to be invited for questioning by the EFCC and wondered why he would be reading about the plan to interrogate him on the pages of newspapers.
Metuh is said to be under investigation for allegedly collecting about N400m from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), who had been arraigned for allegedly diverting over N45bn meant for the procurement of arms during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The opposition publicity secretary had agreed that he collected an undisclosed sum of money from Jonathan.
He stated that he got the undisclosed amount for carrying out unspecific work, as the spokesperson for the PDP, for the former President.
The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the interrogation of the PDP’s spokesman in a text message to our correspondent.
He said, “I can confirm that Metuh is currently being interrogated by operatives of the agency.”
But the PDP said the EFCC was not a court of law, stating that the commission must follow due process.
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, said this while responding to the arrest of Metuh.
He said the PDP had nothing against the anti-corruption campaign by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, but urged that the war should be waged within the confines of the nation’s laws.
Jalo said, “As a party, the PDP does not oppose the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari. What we are saying is that due process must be followed.
“If a man is arrested for any offence, especially this one that is bailable, he or she should be taken to court within 48 hours as stipulated by our laws.
“The EFCC or any anti-corruption body for that matter is not a court of law and cannot, on its own, be the judge, jury and executioner.
“We also make bold to say that as our members are being accused and arrested for what they did or did not do during the last administration, there are also individuals in the ruling APC, who also have questions to answer.
“We hope these agencies will also have the courage to invite such people no matter what role they are playing in government today.”
Jalo, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, however, distanced the party from the act allegedly committed by Metuh and his company.
He said, “At the same time, it (Federal Government) should separate a crime (allegedly) committed by a person in an individual capacity from the PDP as a party. For example, Olisa Metuh has (allegedly) committed the offence on his own as an individual, not on behalf of the party.”
Jalo described the PDP’s 16-year rule as a proof that the party was not corrupt and argued that it would be unfair to criticise the party’s policies based on Metuh’s arrest.
According to the spokesperson, Metuh could not have collected the money on behalf of the party as “all party money must go through the National Chairman because he is the highest authority in the party.”
Jalo added, “Is party money supposed to be distributed through the publicity secretary or the national chairman? How can a company that belongs to Metuh collect money on behalf of the party? Is it normal? The answer is no.
“This little setback is an act of God and it will make the party to be greater because of the lessons it has learnt. In the party, you can get 80 per cent good eggs and 20 per cent bad eggs. It is there in the APC as well.
“You can point to people in the APC that we know clearly are corrupt in their individual capacities. The arrest of Olisa Metuh, as far as the party is concerned, if this crime is established in a court of law, he has done it on his own as a person, not on behalf of the PDP.”
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday directed the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to monitor a former Chairman of the PDP, Haliru Bello, at the Abuja Clinic in Maitama.
The court also remanded the ex-PDP boss’ son, Abbah Bello, in Kuje Prison till Thursday when ruling on their bail applications would be delivered.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed made the order, placing Bello under police watch and his son on remand in prison, following their arraignment along with their firm, Bam Properties, on four counts of money laundering and other related offences on Tuesday.
The EFCC alleged that the accused persons collected about N300m meant for the procurement of arms for political campaign from the Office of the National Security Adviser under the guise of using it for “safe houses”.
Dasuki, who released the funds, is, along with many others, standing trial before two separate judges of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, on charges of diversion of funds meant for arms procurement.
Bello, who attended the proceedings in a wheelchair, was said to have come from a hospital, where he was said to be recuperating from surgery.
Both Bello and his son pleaded not guilty to the four counts.
Shortly after their arraignment, their lawyers moved their bail applications, which were opposed by the EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Aliyu Yusuf.
The judge fixed Thursday for ruling on the bail applications.
Justice Mohammed, while adjourning the case, noted that he decided to place Bello under police watch at the hospital pending the ruling on the bail applications based on the content of his affidavit indicating that he was critically ill.
The judge added, “The court registrar shall bring the order of the court to the attention of the Inspector-General of Police.”
But the judge directed that the son be remanded in prison to await the ruling on his bail application.
During the hearing of the bail applications, the lawyer for Bello, Mr. Abdulaziz Ibrahim, and the counsel for Abbah, Mr. O. Osoko, urged the court to grant their clients bail, promising that they (the clients) would not jump bail and would not interfere with witnesses.
Ibrahim said with “the standing” of his client as a former PDP chairman and a former minister, “he is a man that cannot abscond from trial.”
“He (Bello) has served this country meritoriously in different capacities,” the lawyer said.
He explained that Bello’s surgery wounds were still relatively fresh when he heard about the charges instituted against him and attended the proceedings on Tuesday from the hospital bed “out of his respect for the court”.
The lawyer urged the court to grant bail to the former minister in “self recognisance” or in the alternative “in very liberal terms”.
Like Ibrahim, Osoko also relied on the provisions of Section 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, urging the court to grant bail to his client in liberal terms.
Osoko insisted that his client “is not flight risk”.
He added that under special circumstances which the court needed to consider in granting bail, his client had, despite his ill health, spent 41 days in the EFCC custody.
In opposing the bail, EFCC lead prosecuting counsel, Yusuf, said both Bello and his son had failed to place “sufficient materials before the court to warrant the court exercising its discretion in their favour”.
He said the gravity of the offence could motivate them to abscond from their trial if granted bail.
“It is a very serious offence,” Aliyu said.
Citing the case of Chief M.K.O. Abiola against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, decided by the Supreme Court in 1995, Aliyu said, “An accused person, asking for bail on health grounds, has to show that the ailment he is suffering from cannot be treated in the prison clinic.”
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the four counts.
Mr. Wale Balogun, who appeared in court as lawyer for the company, Bam Properties, informed the court that the company had opted that neither Bello nor his son should plead on its behalf.
In the charge FHC/ABJ/CR/389/2015, the accused persons allegedly received the sum of N300m money from the office of the former NSA on March 17, 2015 for political campaign under the pretext that it was meant for “Safe Houses”.
The prosecution stated in the first count that the N300m collected by the accused was part of proceeds of Dasuki’s unlawful activities.
Dasuki and many others are already being prosecuted before two judges of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, Abuja, in relation to the diversion of a total sum of N45bn meant for the procurement of arms.
The prosecution alleged in the second count that the accused received the money under the guise that it was meant for ‘‘Safe Houses’’ but was actually released to them for political campaign.
Counts one and two are said to be offences contrary to Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
In count three, the accused allegedly concealed the money in their Sterling Bank Plc account when they “knew the said Dr. Aliru Bello and Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (retd.) to be engaged in a criminal conduct.”
0 Comments