Metuh’s trial: Leave Jonathan, family alone, IYC tells FG

Former President Goodluck Jonathan

The Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide has called on the Federal Government to leave former President Goodluck Jonathan and his family alone.

The IYC also urged their kinsmen to resist any move to harass and embarrass Jonathan or members of his family over trumped-up charges.

The group spoke against the backdrop of court’s subpoena on Jonathan to appear as a defence witness in a case involving a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Oliseh Metuh.

The spokesman for the IYC, Mr. Daniel Dasimaka, said the attention of the group was drawn to alleged attempts by some individuals in the Muhammadu Buhari administration to ridicule former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Dasimaka said in a statement on Saturday that such persons in the Buhari’s government felt that the best way to abdicate responsibility for any wrong committed by anyone or institution was to drag Jonathan’s name into it.

He recalled that in the last one month, several attempts were made to implicate Jonathan in various scandals such as the State House Clinic scandal, which his (Jonathan’s) administration was not responsible for the implementation of the 2015 budget.

Dasimaka also expressed worry over what he described as attempts to blame the former president for the reinstatement and promotion of the ex-Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina.

He said the revelation of both Maina’s immediate family and other prominent northerners had absolved Jonathan’s administration of any involvement as they claimed that it was the President Buhari’s government that orchestrated Maina’s reinstatement.

The IYC spokesman noted, “It is against this background that the IYC is calling on all Nigerians to wake up, see through the machinations of Buhari’s government and resist the latest attempt to denigrate Jonathan.

“We are not against the wheels of justice turning smoothly in the determination of cases by the judiciary. What we are against is the politicisation of judicial process by trying to blackmail Jonathan or any citizen.’’

Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to embark on the overhaul of his cabinet by flushing out corrupt individuals.

IYC President, Mr. Eric Omare, who made this call on Saturday in a telephone interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, added that some of those working with Buhari did not share his vision on the need to be upright.

Omare argued that the President could not claim to be fighting corruption while people around him were swimming in graft.

“If the President actually has a vision to fight corruption, the people around him have not keyed into it. He must work with people who believe in his vision to fight corruption. If the anti-corruption crusade of President Buhari must make any impact, the President must start by carrying out a massive overhaul of the people around him. That means he must sack some key officials of his government found to be corrupt for Nigerians to take him seriously,” he said.

Omare added that it should not take eternity for a suspected corrupt government official to be exposed, adding that the delay in investigating and punishing corrupt officials was making a mess of the anti-graft campaign of the current administration.

He stated, “He is the President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria and everything stops on his table. There is nobody that is too big for the President to deal with.

“In any case, whether he succeeds or not, nobody will remember Malami, nobody will remember Dambazzau; it is his name that will be in history.

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BREAKING: I’ve ordered Jonathan to appear in court Wednesday, says Judge

Former President Goodluck Jonathan

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday confirmed that he had signed a subpoena compelling former President Goodluck Jonathan to appear in court on Wednesday to testify in defence of a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh.

This confirms The PUNCH’s exclusive story published on Tuesday that the judge signed the subpoena to be served on Jonathan after retiring back to chambers at the end of Monday’s proceedings.

The judge confirmed this on Tuesday during the resumed trial of Metuh and his company, Destra Investments Limited, on seven counts of money laundering involving alleged cash transaction of $2m and fraudulent receipt of N400m meant for procurement of arms from the Office of the National Security Adviser.

‎Confirming the summons on Jonathan on Tuesday, Justice Abang said he received Metuh’s application for a subpoena to be issued on Jonathan at about 3.59pm on Monday.

The judge said, “Indeed, at the close of business yesterday being October 23, 2017 precisely at about 3.59pm, the registrar forwarded to the court in chamber a subpoena to compel former President Goodluck Jonathan to appear in court to testify a the instance of the first defendant (Metuh).

“Therefore in line with section 241(1) of Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and having regard to the subsisting judgment of the Court of Appeal in the appeal CA/A/159C/2017, between Olisa Metuh and Federal Republic of Nigeria dated September 29, 2017 to the effect that it will be tantamount to violating the right of the first defendant to fair hearing not to sign the subpoena.

“I have no option  other than to sign a subpoena to compel former President Goodluck Jonathan to appear in court on September 25, 2017 (Wednesday)to give evidence at the instance of the first defendant.”

But while being interrogated by the judge on Tuesday, a registrar of the court said the bailiff of the court had yet to serve the subpoena on Joanthan as of Tuesday morning.

Most of Metuh’s defence witnesses, including Mr. Ben Nwosu, who ended his testimony earlier on Monday, had insisted that the sum of N400m paid to the ex-spokesperson for the PDP from the Office of the NSA  in November 2014, the money being part of the case against Metuh, was directly authorised by Jonathan.

Metuh, had therefore through his lead counsel, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN),  told Justice Abang on Monday that he would seek to subpoena the ex-President as a defence witness.

Ikpeazu said the defence had written formally to Jonathan notifying him of the intention to have him testify in court but that the former President did not reply.

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