Two SAN's representing Olisa Metuh withdraw from case after receiving death threats

TWO of the senior advocates of Nigeria defending former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) publicity secretary Prince Olisa Metuh in his ongoing corruption case said they have been forced to withdraw from the suit after receiving threats to their lives.

In 2017,  Prince Metuh was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and is facing corruption charges over allegations that before the 2015 presidential elections, he received N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser without executing any contract. His case is currently ongoing before the Federal High Court in Abuja but in a dramatic twist, lawyers Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu and Emeka Etiaba have withdrawn from the case.

In an application which they filed before the court today, the two lawyers said they had received threats to life and had been under immense pressure for appearing in the case. Both  lawyers, who had been defending Prince Metuh since the money laundering case was instituted in January 2016, also said they could not afford to appear in the matter day-to-day as earlier ordered by the presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang.

An affidavit deposed to by Dr Ikpeazu and filed in support of the application, added: “Emeka Etiaba and myself have been going through immense pressure with respect to our appearance in this case and will be unable to continue to represent the first defendant. I have received numerous threats to my life from diverse sources through telephone calls with disguised numbers giving ultimatums and threatening  to kill me based on the manner they claimed I had been mishandling the case.”

Dr Ikpeazu stated that he was informed by Mr Etiaba that he had received similar threats and will thus no longer proceed with the representation of the first defendant. While Prince Metuh was present in court, his two lead lawyers were absent from the proceedings in which he and his company, Destra Investment, are being prosecuted by the EFCC on seven counts of money laundering.

These charges included allegations that they both fraudulently took the sum N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser when they reasonably ought to know that the money was part of the proceeds of an alleged criminal act of then national security adviser Sambo Dasuki. Prince Metuh is also accused of transacting with a cash sum of $2m without going through a financial institution in violation of a provision of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act.

In the absence of his two lead counsels in court, Prince Metuh got the judge’s permission to consult with the lawyer representing his company, Destra Investments, Tochukwu Onwugbufor. On returning from the consultation, Prince Metuh pleaded with the judge to grant an adjournment to enable the lawyers to appear in court to move their application.

Both Mr Onwugbufor and EFCC’s prosecuting counsel Sylvanus Tahir, did not oppose the application for adjournment. Subsequently, the judge adjourned the case until March 13 for its next hearing.