The detained National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, on Monday filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit before a Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking his immediate release from custody.
Metuh had since January 5, 2016 been taken into custody by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for questioning for allegedly
benefiting from the $2.1bn arms funds allegedly diverted by a former National
Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
The EFCC believed that Metuh received N400m of the allegedly
diverted arms funds, but the PDP spokesperson had reportedly claimed that the
sum was for an undisclosed service he rendered to former President Goodluck
Jonathan.
On Monday, Metuh claimed in the suit he filed through his
lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, that his arrest was part of the grand plan of the
ruling All Progressives Congress to silence the opposition and make Nigeria a
one-party country.
Adegboruwa, who personally deposed to an affidavit of urgency in support of
Metuh’s suit, averred that since his swearing-in May last year, President
Muhammadu Buhari had launched “a massive attack upon the opposition People’s
Democratic Party, in the guise of fighting a nebulous anti-corruption war.”
The lawyer, who noted his role in the enthronement of democratic
rule in Nigeria, including his malicious prosecution and detention for over six
months by the military junta, claimed that Buhari had upon taking office
reorganised the EFCC to hound the opposition.
Metuh, through Adegboruwa, sought a declaration that his
detention by the EFCC without access to his family and lawyer, and without
being charged to court, amounted to a violation of his fundamental rights
guaranteed under sections 33, 34, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 of the
Constitution.
Adegboruwa argued that Metuh’s detention also breached the
African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act,
Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
He expressed the fear that Metuh was being kept under untidy or
unhygienic conditions, which might take a toll on its health, as the EFCC was
not adequately funded.
“I verily believe that the applicant has not committed any
offence other than his principled opposition to the ruling government and his
arrest and detention are meant to silence the opposition and create a one-party
state by the respondents to allow the APC to dominate Nigeria.
“Nobody knows the present whereabouts of the applicant, as to
his exact place of detention, his condition in the custody and how he is
faring. Recently, detainees in the custody of the 1st respondent have been dying due to lack
of proper care and adequate medical facilities, as the 1st respondent is not normally well-funded
to function effectively, except to be used by the ruling government to hound
the opposition,” Adegboruwa added.
He urged the court to order the EFCC and the Attorney General of
the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), sued as the 2nd defendant, to immediately release
Metuh.
The suit had yet to be assigned to any judge and a hearing date
has yet to be fixed.
Source:
The Punch
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