Metuh wants ex-President as witness in fraud case

Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, has requested the presence of former President Goodluck Jonathan as a witness in his money laundering trial.

On Monday, October 23, 2017, Metuh's counsel, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), told Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja that he will subpoena the former president after he refused to reply a request letter.

Despite the ruling of the Court of Appeal that ordered for the appearance of detained former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki,as a witness in the trial, the Department of State Service (DSS) failed to produce him on Monday.

Dasuki's counsel, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), appeared before Justice Abang to oppose the request to compel his client to testify as Metuh's defence witness.

While reacting to Dasuki's non-appearance, Dr. Ikpeazu, notified the court of the defence team's intention to get former President Jonathan to testify in the courtroom.

He said, "We have another witness on subpoena, and at the end of the evidence of this another witness, we will take a decision on whether or not the first defendant (Metuh) will testify.

"The other witness we want to subpoena is Goodluck Jonathan, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

"We wrote him a letter but he did not respond and our plan will be to apply for the subpoena after the first application (for subpoena to be issued on Dasuki)."

After the proceedings on Monday, Justice Abang signed a draft of the subpoena requiring the former president to appear before the court on Wednesday, October 25.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Metuh and his company, Destra Investments Limited, on a seven-count charge bordering on fraud and money laundering.

The alleged offence involved 2 million dollars and N400 million which the defendants allegedly received from Dasuki's office in 2014.