Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court Abuja has fixed April 8 to rule on whether to disqualify himself from presiding over the trial of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh or not. This follows an application and a petition written to Chief judge of the court, Ibrahim Auta by one of Metuh’s lawyers, Emeka Etiaba requesting for transfer of the case to another judge on the ground of bias.
Metuh and his company, Destra Investments Limited, are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on seven- count charge bordering on fraudulent receipt of 400 million naira from the office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014. The PDP spokesman, Olisa Metuh is yet to open his defence after prosecution witnesses concluded their testimonies more than a month ago.
After the court dismissed his no case submission for lack of merit, Metuh filed a petition against the judge accusing him of bias. Metuh is also asking the court to order for a stay of proceeding until the Court of Appeal rules on his application against the decision of the court. After listening to parties in the suit, justice Abang adjourned till April 8 to rule on the various applications filed by the PDP spokesman.
