22nd March, 2018
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call to order, some of his appointees over their continued interference in its former National Publicity Secretary’s trial.
Also to be cautioned for sustained meddling in the trial of the former publicity scribe, Chief Olisa Metuh, according to the party, are some officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement in Abuja on Thursday by Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary, PDP urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria to protect the judiciary and the courts from the direct interferences of the officials.
It said that the connection between the timing of happenings in Metuh’s case and the intrusions of the officials in the entire matter had assumed a worrisome dimension.
It pointed out that its members had specifically expressed fear about Metuh’s fate before Justice Okon Abang, the judge that had in the past, delivered judgments against the PDP, and were later upturned after much damage.
The party said that it found it curious that interferences were manifesting in Metuh’s case even after the court had adjourned indefinitely on his application to be allowed to travel to the UK for surgery.
It wondered why the court had continued to refuse Metuh’s application for medical leave even as his condition had degenerated.
According to PDP, it is on record that people facing similar charges at the Federal High Court are granted leave to travel for medical check-ups and other sundry reasons, but Metuh’s application has been deferred indefinitely.
It decried the current situation where Metuh now had to be brought to court for trial on a hospital stretcher.
It said that if the court could not grant Metuh leave for medical treatment, there was no guarantee that he could get justice from the same court.
The party alleged that some persons were manipulating issues around the case as a reference point to threaten opposition in the country.
It called on the chief justice to take a closer look at the conduct of Metuh’s case and take appropriate action to ensure that justice was done at the end of the day.
The former publicity secretary of PDP is standing trial for allegedly receiving N400 million from the office of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.