The Supreme Court has ruled that
a former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Olisa Metuh, should
face trial for alleged fraud.
The PDP former spokesperson is
standing trial for allegedly diverting N400 million from the former National
Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Okon Abang, the trial judge had
in March 2016, ruled that Metuh and his company, Destra Investment, had a case
to answer in the seven-count charge of fraud brought against them by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The ruling was sustained by the
Court of Appeal in May 2016, resulting in a Supreme Court appeal.
In his ruling on Friday, Justice
Abang gave the same reasons given by the Court of Appeal for refusing Mr.
Metuh’s request.
The Appeal Court had said that
Metuh’s motion was regarded as incompetent for failing to comply with
constitutional provisions for the filing of such appeal.
The Appellant court further
explained that Metuh was wrong to have brought the appeal without first seeking
the leave of the lower court, or that of the Appeal Court itself.
It then ruled that it lacked
jurisdiction to entertain the matter, given the defective manner with which the
suit was filed.
The Apex court in a similar
ruling on Friday by its five-member panel, led by Dattijo Mohammed, pointed out
that the court could not entertain a suit with a fundamental defect, emanating
from the nature of filing at the lower court.
The unanimous judgement was read
by Justice Ejembi Eko. The apex court said its decision was based on section
233 (2) of the 1999 Constitution.
“Where the Court of Appeal lacks
the necessary jurisdiction, in the first place, to hear and determine the
appeal before it, such as in the instant case, no decision of the court against
the competent appeal lies to this court.
“It is for that reason I strike
out the incompetent appeal and affirm the judgment of the lower court below,”
Mr. Eko ruled.
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ReplyDeleteHe should have return the money and settle the case out of court. But he got pushed and they all abandon him with his state of health.
ReplyDeletehe had x10 of that money but he preferred to die for #400 mil