Olisa Metuh in Pit of Trouble; EFCC Gets Order to Detain Him, His Agents on the Run

 

A court has approved the detention of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman, Olisa Metuh. He was arrested on Tuesday in respect of investigation of about N1.4billion “suspicious” funds in an account of a company which has been traced to him.

About N400m meant for arms purchase from the Office of the National Security Adviser was paid into the account of Destra Investment Limited where Metuh has a high stake.

Economice and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) approached the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Wuse Zone 2 for an order to detain Metuh – about 30 hours after his arrest in Abuja.

EFCC decided to seek an order to detain Metuh because some of his accomplices are on the run.

Moving the application at about 2.34pm, the EFCC counsel, Mr. C.O. Ugwu, said: “Your Worship, we have a remand proceeding brought by way of ex parte motion pursuant to Section 293 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.

“The application is supported by Form 8, which is the stipulated form for an application of this nature. It is of 16-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Junaid Saidu, a detective officer with EFCC.

“We place reliance on the entirety of the deposition in the said affidavit, especially paragraphs 4-15. In a nutshell, we have brought this application because the investigation involved in this case is a bit complex and there are also persons reasonably suspected to be involved in the fraud who are yet at large.

“We need the suspect in the custody so as to aid us in our investigation. So, we have come with this application to respectfully apply for an order of this Honourable Court authorising us to keep him in custody.

“By the provision of Section 296(1) of the ACJ Act, Your Worship is enjoined to grant an application of this nature for a period of 14 days.

“May I conclude my submission by referring this Honourable Court to the case of Lufadeju v. Jonhnson(2007) 8NWLR Pt 1037 at Page 535.

“This is a case where the Supreme Court held that it is constitutional to detain a suspect so as to aid investigation and to ensure that the right of the suspect is protected.

“This is because we have approached the court to justify his detention by operation of law. So, there is no way we can detain him unnecessarily since the court is in the picture.”

In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Okeagu Azubuike said: “This court has read carefully the affidavit in the Form 8 to support this application as well as the legal authorities submitted thereto.

“This court has found merit in this application and hereby allows the applicant to detain the respondent (Metuh) in their custody from the 6th of January to 13th of January, 2016..."