The family of the immediate past spokesperson of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, has pleaded with Nigerian authorities not to let its son die without receiving proper medical attention.
Mr. Metuh is currently facing prosecution for allegedly receiving N400 million from the office of the National Security Adviser in 2014.
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday refused Mr. Metuh’s request to be allowed to travel abroad for surgery.
Mr. Metuh is currently on admission at the National Hospital Abuja for spinal cord injury.
The family in a statement on Thursday said it had become clear to them that Mr. Metuh was being persecuted because his offer to refund the alleged N400 million was refused, while all other suspects were allowed to make refund.
Find below a statement by the family:
Press Statement
(Being text of press statement by the family of Chief Olisa Metuh)
The entire Metuh family has been following the issues regarding our son, Chief Olisa Metuh and his ordeal since his arrest, detention and arraignment by the EFCC since January this year.
We are aware that the matter regarding our son is subjudice hence we shall only comment on matters that are already in the public domain. For the avoidance of doubt, we want to make the following clarifications.
In December 2015, when the issue of the N400 million came up and our son was invited by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), he immediately reported at ONSA.
He then made enquires regarding the source of the money with a clear statement to ONSA that if the source of the money is from government coffers, he was willing to refund accordingly not minding that the money has been expended as directed by the former President. At that time, ONSA did not make the necessary clarifications.
Upon his arrest on the 5th of January 2016, the EFCC went to town mentioning several figures that were not the exact amount of money transferred to our son’s account. They alleged that N1.4 billion arms deal money was traced to his account and that he has been receiving N4 million monthly from ONSA. They kept him in detention for a period of 9 days after which he was transferred to Kuje prison where he spent another 13 days.
Nigerians are aware that of all the people who have been facing the predicament of having worked for either the PDP or the previous Federal Government, our son has been the only one that was brought to court in handcuffs, paraded as a common criminal and treated without any dignity whatsoever. Eventually our son was granted bail under one of the most stringent conditions ever in the history of our country. Fortunately, we were able to meet the bail conditions and our son has been facing trial since then. He has been cooperating with the judiciary and done all required of him in the course of the trial.
May we also point out that since his arrest and even up to about a week ago, our son has made several overtures to the arresting authority for him to refund the money since they now claim in court that it came from government coffers. All efforts have been unsuccessful.
It is instructive that out of over 300 names listed as having received money from the ONSA, all those who offered to refund money were not arraigned in court. Our son is the only one whose offer to refund money was rejected and has been arraigned in court and his case given accelerated hearing. On each trial date the hostility in the courtroom is palpable.
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