Haliru Bello Arraigned, Metuh Quizzed by EFCC

• Former minister arrives court in a wheelchair
• PDP accuses FG of plot to poison its spokesman
Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Senator Iroegbu and Adebiyi Adedapo in Abuja
 
A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Mohammed Haliru Bello, has been arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on corruption charges related to the misappropriation of funds in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

This is just as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) also arrested the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, in relation to the same funds from ONSA meant for the purchase of arms for the war against the insurgency in the North-east.

Bello, who is being prosecuted by the EFCC on a four-count corruption charge, was brought to the court yesterday in a wheelchair.
The PDP chieftain was arraigned alongside his son, Mr. Abba Haliru Bello, who was also brought by EFCC operatives, while clutching his prayer beads and a walking stick and  intermittently muttered words (of prayer).

The duo are standing trial alongside BAM Projects and Properties Ltd on a four-count criminal charge for allegedly collecting N600 million from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
However, Bello and his son pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal breach of trust and corruption to the tune of N300 million preferred against them by EFCC.

Bello, who was also once a Minister of Defence, took his plea seated in the wheelchair, while his son stood in the accused box.
After preferring the charges, the counsels to the first defendant (Abba Haliru Bello) and third defendant (Mohammed Haliru Bello), argued for bail for their clients.

The lawyer to the first defendant, Mr. O. Ozoka, argued for bail citing Section 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice (ACJ) Act and Sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution.

Ozoka appealed that the first defendant be granted bail pending the termination of the trial, stating that this was a bailable offence and that the defendant would not abscond nor stand in the way of the trial or investigation.

He disclosed that Abba Bello had been in the custody of the EFCC for 41 days without trial.
"This is the first time he is standing trial. Section 165 of the ACJ stipulates the conditions should not be excessive," he pleaded.
In the same vein, lawyer to the former PDP chairman, Mr. Abdullaziz Ibrahim, citing Sections 162 and 165(1) of the ACJ and Section 35 and 36(5) and (6) of the Constitution pleaded that the applicant be granted bail pending the termination of the trial.

Ibrahim also pleaded with the judge to consider his application since the defendant has a proven medical condition for which he was being treated at a recognised hospital.

"The application is supported by a nine-paragraph affidavit, exhibit Ns1 and Ns5 respectively, particularly 4A-L. The photograph of the third defendant while taking medication treatment is attached," he said.
However, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Ali Yusuf, opposed both bail applications relying of paragraph 7-20 of the affidavit, which was also contained in an application he made on January 5, 2016.

"The gravity of the offences which carry a maximum of 14 years imprisonment and the likelihood of the defendant interfering with the course of justice.

"The fact is that the defendant did not state in the affidavit the reason why the third defendant cannot be treated in the prison custody. The appeal is not just for the court to refuse the first and third defendants bail but to grant accelerated hearing," Yusuf argued.
After hearing from both the prosecuting and defence counsel, the presiding judge, Justice Mohammed, reserved ruling on the bail applications to tomorrow.

The judge also directed that Abba Bello be remanded in Kuje Prison, while Mohammed Haliru Bello, having shown in his affidavit his medical condition, be detained under the supervision of the Inspector General of Police (IG) in the hospital, pending his trial.
Bello is among those being prosecuted by the EFCC for complicity in the arms purchase scandal.

The commission last month, arraigned Dasuki; the immediate past Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda; Chairman of Daar Communications Plc, Chief Raymond Dokpesi; a former Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa; and his son, among others.

They are being tried for multiple counts of alleged criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of funds and money laundering but have since been granted bail at the Federal High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Dasuki, however, remains in the custody of the Directorate of State Services (DSS).
In furtherance of its investigations relating to the misappropriation of funds in ONSA, the EFCC yesterday also grilled the PDP spokesman.

EFCC spokesperson Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the development, could not immediately give details why Metuh was quizzed and detained.
According to reports, the commission allegedly traced N1.4 billion to an account of a company – Destra Investment Limited – linked to Metuh.

The anti-graft commission placed the activities of the company and its banking transactions under surveillance.
EFCC investigations, according to the reports, uncovered that Destra Investment Limited was used to fund PDP activities, including its 2015 election campaign.

EFCC found that the company, which had an account balance of N6,676,576.06 as at November 24, 2014, saw its balance balloon to N1.4 billion in December, the same year.

Some of the strange deposits in the account were as follows: N400 million from ONSA on November 24, 2014; N253 million on December 2 and 4, 2014 from Mr. Ibrahim Kabiru whose identity was yet to be ascertained; N91 million on December 2, 2014 from Capital Field Investment; and N92 million on December 3, 2014 from one Etonye Oyintoneife.

Providing more details on Metuh's arrest, the PDP said that its national publicity secretary was invited by the EFCC yesterday morning.
A statement by Metuh's special assistant, Mr. Richard Ihediwa, said officials of the EFCC arrived the Abuja home of the spokesman of the opposition party yesterday at about 10.30 am and ordered him to follow them to the commission's headquarters.

Ihediwa said when his boss demanded to know the reason for the invitation, the officials informed him that he had some issues to clear with the commission.

Ihediwa said the EFCC team informed Metuh that he was not being arrested but was required to honour a "friendly invitation".
The statement read: "Officials of the EFCC arrived the Abuja home of the spokesman of the opposition PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh this morning, inviting him to follow them to the commission's headquarters.

"Upon enquiry on the reason for the invitation, the officials stated that he has some issues to clear with the commission. They also said he was not being arrested but it was a friendly invitation.

"The operatives, four in number, came in a white unmarked Toyota Hiace bus and immediately made their way into the home of the PDP spokesman located at Prince and Princess Estate in Gudu, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja."

At the time the statement was issued late yesterday afternoon, Ihediwa said Metuh was still in the custody of the commission and his lawyers were making frantic efforts to reach him.

He said: "While details of why Chief Metuh was invited are yet to be made public by the commission, it would be recalled that severally, Chief Metuh, as the mouthpiece of the opposition party, had alerted in various press conferences and statements that he has been under threat and that the ruling party and the government have been very uncomfortable with his stance.

"The latest being the outburst and threats by the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun in reaction to Chief Metuh's criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari's widely criticised response on the federal government's disobedience of court orders during the last Wednesday's presidential media chat."

Also reacting to Metuh's arrest and interrogation, the national leadership of PDP yesterday demanded the immediate release of its spokesman.

The party, in a statement by its National Secretary, Prof. Adewale Oladipo, said the arrest did not come to it as a surprise given the series of threats to the party's spokesman by the All Progressives Party (APC) and officials of the federal government who are obviously not comfortable with PDP's stance on the confused state of the nation under their watch.

PDP described the arrest of Metuh as a continuation of APC's grand design to silence and decimate the opposition party.

"The arrest of Chief Metuh today (yesterday) underscores the growing political intolerance in our country and the foisting of a police state which was last Wednesday underscored by the President and Commander-in-Chief himself, who defended why a government in a democracy should flout constitutional provisions and brazenly disobey court orders.

"This onslaught against our spokesman, according to the intelligence available to us, is part of a larger script by the government to ensure that PDP's wings are finally clipped in their mission to install a dictatorial one-party state in the country.

"The excesses of security agencies under this government, especially the Directorate of Security Services (DSS) and the EFCC, in abridging the human rights of PDP members, have become worrisome and a threat to our democratic evolution.

"Nigerians and the international community will recall that on a number of occasions, the PDP, through its spokesman has been outspoken on some undemocratic proclivities being exhibited by the APC-led federal government in the last seven months.

"The PDP insists that for whatever reason Chief Metuh was arrested, his rights as a citizen under the law must not be trampled upon. We therefore demand his immediate release and that due process of investigation and prosecution concerning him should be strictly adhered to.

"We state this because we have been made aware of top directives to break Chief Metuh and if possible poison him during his detention by the EFCC.

"Chief Metuh, has since his arrest at about 10 am, been kept incommunicado, with his lawyers denied access to him.
"The PDP declares the arrest of our spokesman as the last straw that may break our democracy. We therefore forewarn the federal government and its agencies to save our democracy and forthwith release our National Publicity Secretary.

"We are also calling on the international community and well-meaning Nigerians to stand up for this democracy, which our party nurtured for 16 years and deepened to a level where the opposition, for the first time in our political history, had the opportunity to win in a general election," the party said.

Source: This Day