The court of appeal in Abuja has set aside the indictment of
Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser, in the judgment which convicted
Olisa Metuh, former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had
arraigned Metuh on seven counts of money laundering for allegedly receiving
N400 million from Dasuki.
Dasuki who was named in the alleged $2.1 billion arms
purchase scandal is facing charges of corruption, though his trial has often
been stalled.
On February 25, 2020, the trial court found the former PDP
spokesman guilty on all counts of money laundering and sentenced him to seven
years in prison.
But the court of appeal on Thursday voided Metuh’s
conviction and ordered a retrial on the grounds that Okon Abang, the trial
judge, was biased in the course of the trial.
In a separate appeal, Dasuki asked the appellate court to
quash parts of the trial court’s judgment which was indictive of him.
The EFCC had objected to the former NSA’s appeal on the
grounds that the appellant was not an accused person in the criminal
proceedings.
But Stephen Adah who read the judgment on behalf of a
three-man panel of the appellate court held that section 36 of the constitution
gives Dasuki the right to appeal.
“He can appeal as a matter of right,” the court held.
“There is no argument about the fact that certain lines of
this judgment have indicted indeed this appellant.
“The only role the appellant played was that he was
subpoenaed as a witness and he was never involved as an accused person.
“He was not in the
charge, his plea was not taken, yet so many damaging things were said about
him. And it is with this respect that we see that the complaints of this
appellant in this appeal are justified.
“Ordinarily, someone who is accused of an offence is presumed
innocent until proven guilty. This man was not charged and a lot of things
indicting and convicting him were found in this judgment.
“It is in this respect that we believe that his complaints
cannot in any way be faulted.
“This appeal brought by this application is hereby allowed
and every strand of those lines that he complained about which we have seen are
hereby nullified.”
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