A former publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Olisa Metuh has fired back at eminent lawyer and legal luminary, Robert Clarke, SAN, over his claim that he (Metuh) was given ‘billions of naira’ by the ‘last regime’ to promote his party.
Clarke had in the interview with a national daily alleged that Metuh and other members of the part ruined the country.
Reacting, however, Metuh, who spoke through his media assistant, Richard Ihediwa, described the interview as a clear attempt to tarnish his image.
His statement reads below:
We read with rude shock the sudden attack on Chief Olisa Metuh by Chief Robert Clarke, SAN who in his interview in Saturday, September, 23, 2017 edition of the Punch Newspapers distorted facts and made spurious assertions regarding Chief Metuh’s on going case in the court.
Chief Clarke, in his media trial falsely asserted among other things, that Chief Metuh was given ‘billions of naira’ by the ‘last regime’ to promote his party while attempting to link the ongoing case to corrupt enrichment, which is not the charge in the court.
We find it very curious that Chief Clarke SAN left the subject of the interview, which were solutions to issues of agitations by IPOB and political restructuring, to rather engage on media trial of Chief Metuh’s case with unfounded assertions.
Equally instructive is the fact that this same Chief Clarke, SAN was one of the lawyers that held discussions with Chief Metuh after the closure of the case of the prosecution and who, after thoroughly studying the charges and the records in court, held on point and authority of the law that the EFCC has no case; that Chief Metuh is innocent; that the entire matter was an ‘unnecessary persecution by government’.
Chief Clarke had completely faulted the charge by the EFCC that Chief Metuh ‘ought to have known’ that the N400 million released to him by former President Goodluck Jonathan for an approved special national assignment, and which was carried out under the instruction and directives of the then President, came from an alleged unlawful activity of the former National Security Adviser (NSA) and Jonathan’s aide, Col. Sambo Dasuki.
His legal opinion was that there was no way the government could have charged Chief Metuh without first convicting Col. Dasuki or perhaps charge them together. In fact, following his conviction that there was no case in the matter, Chief Clarke, SAN offered to be in Chief Metuh’s defence team and would have been so engaged, but for the fact that his brief was not perfected on issues of fees.