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| Olisa Metuh |
Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman, Olisa Metuh
has said that he’ll return N400 million to the Federal Government in order to
show his support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war.
Metuh who is facing charges of money laundering made this
comment through a statement released by his lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) on
Thursday, June 30th.
The statement reads:
In the light of the
circumstances regarding the case of our client, Chief Olisa Metuh with the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), we want to explain the reasons
for our client’s proposal to refund the N400 million released to him by former
President Goodluck Jonathan, and which was expended on a project approved by
the ex-president on national issues relating to his presidency and the federal
government at that time.
We want to restate
that at the time the money was released to him after his presentation to the
ex-president, our client had no knowledge of the source, a fact that is now
obvious from the evidence of the prosecution and defence witnesses.
Our client had every
cause to believe that the money was from the ex-president to whom he made
presentation, received directives and rendered report and accounts accordingly.
When the matter first
came up and Chief Metuh was invited to the Office of the National Security
Adviser (ONSA) in December 2015, he requested to know the source of the money
and expressed his readiness to make refunds if it was from government coffers,
not minding that the money had been expended as directed by the former
President. Officials at ONSA never got back to him as they promised, until his
arrest by the EFCC in January 2016.
It was however while
in court that a document was brought regarding the source of the money and
since then, our client has made manifest his willingness to refund the money
and has indeed approached his family, friends and associates to mobilise funds
to refund the entire N400 million to the government regardless of the fact that
the money had been expended based on the directives of the former president and
that part of the money had been recovered from one of the prosecution
witnesses.”
Our client occupied no
government office. His commitment and dedication to his official duties have
been confirmed by even prosecution witnesses. In this whole saga, he has been
an unfortunate victim of circumstances. His refunding the money therefore goes
to show his support for the anti-corruption war as well as serve as a testament
to his sincerity, integrity and honesty in this matter.
There is no doubt that
the prosecution has considerably embarked on some expenses in the course of
this case. It is hoped that by not discounting the sum already recovered,
whatever cost so far incurred would have been defrayed. By this, a critical
objective of recovery of funds would no doubt be achieved.
It is pertinent to
restate our client’s continued support for the anti-corruption campaign, which
is necessary to ensure probity in the affairs of Nigeria to the extent that it
is conducted within the rule of law.
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