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N400m FRAUD: I doubt Metuh is really sick- Justice Abang

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Metuh intentionally fell down – Justice Abang

An Abuja Federal High Court judge, Justice Okon Abang, again on Thursday turned down the prayer of the former national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, to be allowed to travel to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.

The judge said that he was not sure that Metuh was actually as sick as he claimed to be, arguing that if he was really sick, that he would have appealed the two earlier decisions of the court that refused to release his international passport.

Justice Abang said that he would not mind to direct the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court to release Metuh’s International Passport, but was not going to do that because the accused failed to persuade the court that he was indeed suffering from a life-threatening ailment.

According to Justice Abang, Metuh was deliberately frustrating his trial with the same application the court had refused three times.

He said, “I am wondering if the defendant is really sick as he claims. Why did he not appeal the two earlier decisions of the court that refused to release his international passport.

“I doubt that he is really ill as he wants the court to believe, if he is, he should have appealed the decisions of the court at the Court of Appeal.”

The trial judge added that Metuh ought to have known that where a trial court decided a matter, it could not be brought before it again under any guise.

Expressing surprise over how Metuh appealed decisions of the court that had nothing to do with his health but refused to appeal rulings that pertained to his health, Abang insisted that, contrary to the claim by Metuh’s lawyer, Dr Onyeachi Ikpeazu (SAN), no new facts were raised in the application to warrant the court to deviate from its two past rulings to exercise its discretion in favour of the defendant.

He said, “The issues raised in this application have already been determined in the two previous rulings on the matter; there is nothing new in this application.”

The trial judge subsequently upheld an objection the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raised against Metuh’s bid to leave the country on health ground.

Read also: Buhari under attack over his lazy Nigerian youths comment

The court therefore asked Metuh who was brought to court in a wheelchair to continue his defence to the seven-count corruption charge EFCC preferred against him and his firm, Destra Investment Limited.

Metuh is being prosecuted over N400 million the EFCC accused him of receiving from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, without executing any contract.

He had on March 14 prayed the court to allow him to seek medical attention in the UK over loss of sensation in his lower limbs.

Metuh said he was suffering from spinal cord related ailment.

 

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