The Federal High Court in Abuja on
Monday ordered President Goodluck Jonathan to appear before it to
testify as a witness in defense of a former National Publicity Secretary
of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh.....
A court official confided in our
correspondent that Metuh’s legal team filed the draft subpoena before
Justice Okon Abang shortly after the Monday’s proceedings.
The court official said the judge signed the subpoena after retiring to his chambers at the end of Monday’s proceedings.
The source, however, indicated that
Jonathan’s court appearance on Wednesday would be dependent on whether
or not he would be served with the subpoena signed by the judge between
Monday and today (Tuesday).
It was learnt that the Abuja home of the ex-President was indicated on the subpoena as his service address.
The source said, “I can authoritatively
tell you that Metuh’s legal team filed the subpoena before the judge on
Monday and the judge signed the subpoena promptly after the proceedings
on Monday.
“The judge indicated in the subpoena that the former President should appear in court on Wednesday.
“But whether or not the former President
would appear in court on Wednesday would be dependent on if the court
bailiff will be able to serve him at his home in Abuja between Monday
and the end of Tuesday.”
Metuh, through his lead counsel, Dr.
Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), told the court on Monday that he would seek to
subpoena the ex-President as a witness.
Most of Metuh’s defence witnesses,
including Mr. Ben Nwosu, who ended his testimony earlier on Monday, had
insisted that the N400m paid to the ex-spokesperson for the PDP from the
Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014, (the money
being part of the case against Metuh), was directly authorised by
Jonathan.
Metuh’s lawyer, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu
(SAN), told Justice Abang that he had written formally to Jonathan
notifying him of his intention to have him testify in court but that the
former President did not reply to his letter.
Ikpeazu said this while responding to questions raised by Justice Abang after Nwosu ended his testimony on Monday.
The SAN said he intended to apply for
subpoena to be issued on Jonathan after the detained former National
Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, earlier summoned to testify as Metuh’s
witness would have ended his testimony.
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.”
Responding to further questions from the
judge, Ikpeazu said, “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).”
Although Ikpeazu said Dasuki was
scheduled to be the next to testify for the defence, the ex-NSA was
absent from court on Monday.
Justice Abang said on Monday that Dasuki was scheduled to appear in court on October 25 (Wednesday).
The judge had earlier refused to grant Metuh’s request to sign the subpoena to be served on Dasuki.
But the Court of Appeal in Abuja on September 29 overruled the judge and ordered him to sign the subpoena.
Justice Abang noted on Monday that he
had since October 3 complied with the Court of Appeal’s order by signing
the subpoena which was said to have been subsequently served on Dasuki
in DSS custody.
But Dasuki’s lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Raji
(SAN), was however in court to oppose the request to compel the ex-NSA
to testify as Metuh’s defence witness.
Raji told Justice Abang that he had on
behalf Dasuki filed a motion on October 20, seeking an order setting
aside the subpoena served on the ex-NSA to testify in Metuh’s defence.
While introducing the application on
Monday, Raji said Dasuki had asked as an alternative prayer in the
application, an order of stay of execution of the subpoena served on the
detainee pending his (Dasuki’s) release from the custody of the DSS.
The DSS has detained Dasuki since
December 2015 after the ex-NSA was granted bail in respect of two
separate sets of charges instituted against him before the High Court of
the Federal Capital Territory.
Justice Abang fixed Tuesday for the hearing of the application.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja had on
September 29, ordered the DSS to produce Dasuki before the court in
Abuja to enable him to testify as Metuh’s witness.
It was stated in an affidavit deposed to
by a lawyer in Dasuki’s legal team, Mr. David Ogundipe, and filed in
support of the application that the protracted incarceration of the
ex-NSA had negatively impacted on his (Dasuki’s) state of mind making
him allegedly unfit to stand trial or give evidence in respect of
Metuh’s case.
It stated that with his incarceration since 2015, he had been deprived of access to files and records he kept while in office.
He also argued that Dasuki had not been
served with the judgment or the enrolled order of the Court of Appeal
ordering the ex-NSA to appear in court, adding that “his (Dasuki) state
of mind is currently in turmoil, because of the protracted unlawful
detention by the DSS.”
Ogundipe stated, “I also know that the
protracted and arbitrary detention of the applicant (Metuh) has
negatively impacted on his state of mind, such that makes him unfit to
stand any trial now or give evidence relating to his actions or
omissions in office.
“I am aware as a matter of fact that
since 2015 when the applicant was arrested, he has not had access to any
of the files or records he kept while in office, for the purpose of
preparing his defence, including giving evidence in any case.”
He also noted that his appeals
challenging his incarceration while being subjected to trial were
pending before the Supreme Court and would come up for hearing before
the apex court on January 25, 2018.
He added that compelling him to testify in Metuh’s case would therefore prejudice his right to fair hearing.
“Determination of the pending Appeals in
Supreme Court is cardinal to a continued trial of Exhibits A1,A2 and
A3, which by extension, squarely affects the purpose for which the
subpoena has been issued.
“Applicant’s constitutional right to
fair hearing/fair trial will be adversely prejudiced if compelled to
testify or give evidence of this court, in disregard of the appeals
already set down for hearing at the Supreme Court on January 25, 2018..”
The EFCC, had in January 2016,
arraigned Metuh and his company, Destra Investments Limited, on seven
counts of money laundering involving alleged cash transaction of $2m and
fraudulent receipt of N400m meant for the procurement of arms from the
NSA office on November 22, 2014.
The prosecution alleged in the charges that Metuh and his firm used the N400m for PDP’s campaign activities.
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