Court withholds decision in Metuh’s trial two years after concluding hearing

Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

There is a growing concern about the inability of the judge handling the trial of the former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, to deliver ruling about two years after parties adopted their written addresses and made concluding submissions.

Metuh was arraigned before Justice Ishaq Bello of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja, in January 2016.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused him, among others, of destroying evidence in his criminal case.

Metuh, who is also being tried by the EFCC at the Federal High Court in Abuja for his alleged involvement in the diversion of arms procurement funds, in the case at the FCT High Court, is said to have destroyed the statement he wrote to EFCC operatives during investigation.

Read Also: Dasuki Gate: Court admits Metuh’s account of N400m expenditure in evidence

The prosecution team, led by Sylvanus Tahir, closed its case on October 10, 2016, after calling two witnesses.

The defence, thereafter, made a “no-case” submission, following which parties adopted their written addresses in the submission on January 31, last year.

The judge adjourned for ruling on the “no-case” submission, which parties are still waiting for till date.

When The Nation visited the court last week to enquire if a date had been fixed for the ruling, an official of the court said no date had been fixed.

The reporter was advised to check back “any day next week” (this week).

Also, The Nation learnt that the prosecution, having waited to no end on the matter, wrote the court’s Registrar for a date for the ruling in the Metuh case and another matter too, which seemed stuck in the court.

In the letter sighted in Abuja, the EFCC prayed the court “for dates in respect of the …FRN v. Olisa Metuh, and FRN/Julius Ola Peters & Five Others.”

On Metuh’s case, the prosecution recalled its history and stressed that since the court failed to deliver its ruling on the “no-case” submission on the earlier scheduled date of March 7, last year, the court was yet to deliver the ruling.

“On the said date, the ruling was not ready. Since then, the case was adjourned to various dates, but the ruling is not yet to be delivered,” the letter said.