FORMER Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) publicity secretary Chief Olisa Metuh has promised to refund the sum of N400m (£1.05m) he received from ex-national security adviser Col Sambo Dasuki.
Currently standing trial for his role in the $2.1bn arms scandal during which money meant for military hardware was diverted to private use, Chief Metuh is facing a seven-count charge before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court. He is accused of received N400m from the payments and admitted to it under interrogation.
Yesterday, Chief Metuh said he had been in talks with the justice ministry, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other bodies on how to refund the money and resolve the issue. After many months in and out of detention and court, Chief Metuh decided to repay the money which was illegally remitted into the account of his firm, Desra Nigeria.
According to Chief Metuh, although the cash was released to him by former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan, he did not know the source as at the time. He said since the EFCC presented a document in court on the source of the money, he had made up his mind to willingly refund it.
Furthermore, Chief Metuh said with the development, he will continue to support the anti-corruption campaign of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, which is necessary to ensure probity in Nigeria. He added that he is a fervent opponent of corruption and supports the idea of stamping it out.
Chief Metuh's lawyer said: “We want to restate that at the time the money was released to him after his presentation to the ex-president, our client had no knowledge of the source, a fact that is now obvious from the evidence of the prosecution and defence witnesses. Our client had every cause to believe that the money was from the ex-president to whom he made presentations, received directives and rendered report and accounts accordingly.
“When the matter first came up and Chief Metuh was invited to the Office of the National Security Adviser (Onsa) in December 2015, he requested to know the source of the money and expressed his readiness to make refunds if it was from government coffers, not minding that the money had been expended as directed by the former president. Officials at Onsa never got back to him as they promised, until his arrest by the EFCC in January 2016."
He added that it was while in court that a document was brought regarding the source of the money and since then, his client has made manifest his willingness to refund the money and has indeed approached his family, friends and associates to mobilise funds to refund the entire N400m to the government regardless of the fact that it had been expended based on the directives of the former president and that part of the money had been recovered from one of the prosecution witnesses. According to the spokesman, Chief Metuh refunding the money goes to show his support for the anti-corruption war as well as serve as a testament to his sincerity, integrity and honesty in this matter.
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