The court of appeal has nullified the seven-year jail sentence handed down to former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh,
In its ruling on Thursday, the court held that Okon Abang, judge of a federal high court in Abuja, exhibited bias in the case of the former PDP spokesman.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Metuh on seven counts of money laundering for allegedly receiving N400 million from the office of the national security adviser.
On February 25, 2020, the trial court pronounced him guilty on all counts of money laundering and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
In a bid to defend himself, Metuh had said as of the time the money was paid into his account in November 2014, there was no criminal charge against Sambo Dasuki, former NSA.
Metuh submitted that he did not know that the money paid into the account was from the office of the national security adviser.
He insisted that it was Goodluck Jonathan, former president, who authorised the payment of N400 million for him to carry out issues of national importance.
But Okon Abang, the judge, in his judgment, said: “I have my doubts if the first defendant is telling the truth in this matter”.
The judge said Metuh must have received a bank alert notifying him of the transaction, and that the prosecution had also tendered the notice of alert (exhibit D28) as evidence before the court.
Abang held that Metuh’s evidence was not corroborated by the former president who refused to come to court to give evidence despite being subpoenaed. He said even Dasuki who came to court to testify as a witness claimed to have lost his memory.
On count two, the court found Metuh guilty of converting the said sum which was meant for national security to fund the campaign activities of the PDP.
Abang also found the former PDP spokesman guilty on counts three and four where he is accused of using part of the money for PDP campaign in the build-up to the 2015 general election.
One of the witnesses in the case had testified that Metuh paid him N25 million for media advocacy.
