Embattled National Publicity Secretary of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, may have bowed to pressure and cooperated with investigators following reports that he has given a statement to the anti-graft agency.
The PDP spokesperson has also reportedly submitted that he received N400million from former President Goodluck Jonathan for an assignment he executed for him, but was however silent on the nature of the assignment.
The Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, on Monday in Lagos, said Metuh is being detained because he has refused to refund money allegedly traced to his account from the office of former National Security Adviser, saying however that Metuh has refused to say anything.
But a statement by Metuh’s Special Assistant, Richard Ihediwa, yesterday, in Abuja, said the PDP spokesman has fully cooperated with the EFCC.
The statement reads in full: “This office wishes to state categorically that Chief Metuh has fully cooperated with investigators within his constitutionally guaranteed rights. In exercise of his rights, he has since given his statement to the EFCC wherein he submitted that he received the sum of N400 million from the former President for an assignment, which he executed to the satisfaction of the former President.
“In further exercise of his rights, Chief Metuh has also indicated his readiness to make public the nature of this assignment, but only in an open court in line with the laws of the land, and where his statement would not be distorted by anybody.
“The attention of the office of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, has been drawn to desperation to use a section of the media to spur public sentiments against the PDP spokesman, who has been in the EFCC custody since last Tuesday.
“Chief Metuh believes that the continued false reports in the media, the latest being the publication claiming that he told investigators that he would ‘rather starve than refund any money’ is part of the blackmail and scheme to pitch him against the public.
“The grand design to sway the public and derail the course of proper
investigation started with misleading and malicious reports that Chief Metuh made away with N1.4 billion arms deal cash and had been receiving a monthly N4 million stipend from the office of the National Security Adviser. When this deliberate falsehood could not be sustained, it was adjusted to his receiving N400 million from the former NSA.
“Chief Metuh, therefore, believes that his continued incarceration and failure to charge him to court are deliberately intended to prevent him from telling his own story in the open court for all Nigerians to know.
“We wish to state that contrary to the impression that the issue of N400 million was a product of investigation, it was actually a product of Chief Metuh’s voluntary statement.
“Chief Metuh had since informed that sometime in December 2015, the office of the NSA published an invitation to companies they believed executed contracts for it for a chat.
“Upon the office of NSA invitation via a text message, Chief Metuh, regardless of the fact that he did not execute any contract for the office, appeared before the ONSA panel, wherein he presented his company’s statement of account showing that the sum of N400 million paid on the instruction of the ex-President for an assignment was traceable to the ONSA account.
“Recall that Chief Metuh, even before visiting ONSA had, at a media
briefing, acknowledged the receipt of N400 million from the ex-President for the exercise of the said assignment.”
The statement added that, “Following the developments, Chief Metuh, as a responsible citizen, cancelled his intended travels for the Yuletide and issued a statement wherein he noted his readiness for any invitation and investigation by the EFCC or any other agency of government for that matter.
“We are, therefore, worried at the continued media persecution where a citizen is being charged, sentenced and jailed in the court of the media instead of being charged to the law court as required by the law.
“This office urges Nigerians not to lose sight of the sequence and inconsistencies in the investigation and publications regarding Chief Metuh’s case. We believe that in this case, the law must not be suspended but applied in its full measure by charging and allowing Chief Metuh to state his case in the open court instead of this continued media persecution against him.”
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