Metuh Institutes Court Action for His Release

Apparently not satisfied with the manner in which he is still being detained in the custody of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, on Monday approached a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, with a fundamental human rights enforcement action seeking his immediate release from custody. It would be recalled that Metuh had been in the detention of the Commission since January 5, 2016, to answer questions for allegedly benefiting from the $2.1bn arms funds, said to have been allegedly diverted by immediate past National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd). Specifically, EFCC alleged that Metuh got N400m of the allegedly diverted arms funds. Metuh, in the suit filed by his lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, argued, that his arrest was part of the grand plan of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to silence the opposition, and make Nigeria a one-party country. The detained PDP scribe therefore wants a declaration that his detention by the EFCC amounted to a violation of his fundamental rights guaranteed under sections 33, 34, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 of the Constitution. Metuh also stated that his detention is in breach of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. The matter is yet to be assigned to a judge.