Committed members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) believe that the ongoing trial of the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh at a Federal High Court in Abuja was as a result of his role as the PDP spokesman, so says a defence witness in the case, Mr Ike Abonyi.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had on January 15, arraigned Metuh and his firm, Destra Investments Limited, before Justice Okon Abang of the court of Appeal on a seven-count charge of money laundering involving $2m cash transaction.
Speaking while being cross-examined by counsel to the second defendant, Mr. Tochukwu Onwugbufor, SAN, on Wednesday, the witness, who resigned as the Acting Managing Director of the New Telegraph Newspaper, claimed that Metuh’s ordeals were as a result of his role as the spokesman for PDP.
His words, “A lot us, committed members of the PDP, believed that Metuh got into trouble because of the role he played as the spokesman for the opposition party.
“There had been lot of apprehension even before he was arrested in January this year to the extent that he called a press conference to tell the world that the ruling party could come for him any day.”
In his testimony, Abonyi maintained that former President, Goodluck Jonathan who doubled as president and leader of the party paid Metuh to launder his image and that of the party in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.
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