Appeal Court nullifies Metuh’s conviction, orders fresh trial

The Court of Appeal, Abuja on Wednesday nullified the conviction and 7 years jail term imposed on Olisa Metuh, a former spokesperson of the PDP, by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

A three-man panel of the court led by Justice Stephen Adah in a unanimous judgment held that the proceedings of the Federal High Court leading to the conviction of Metuh and his company, Destra Investment Limited, were tainted with bias and as a result must not be allowed to stand.

Delivering the lead judgment on Wednesday, Adah held that the utterances of the trial judge, Abang, in the course of the trial, established that he was biased against the convicts.

Adah also instructed that the case file be sent back to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to another judge.

The Appellate Court, therefore, ordered that a fresh trial be conducted.

Recall that Abang had in his judgment delivered on February 25, sentenced Metuh to seven years imprisonment for fraudulently receiving N400 million from the office of the then National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retired).