Appeal Court Says Federal Court Judge Biased, Nullifies Metuh’s Conviction
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside the conviction and seven years jail term imposed former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, after finding him guilty of money laundering charges, saying the trial was tainted with bias.
A three-man panel led by Justice Stephen Adah, in a unanimous judgment delivered on Wednesday held that the proceedings of the Federal High Court leading to the conviction of Metuh and his company, Destra Investment Limited, were tainted with bias, and therefore must not be allowed to stand.
Justice Adah, who delivered the lead judgment held that the utterances of the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, in the course of the trial established that he was biased against the convicts.
He, therefore, ordered that trial be conducted afresh.
He directed that the case file be sent back to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to another judge other than Justice Abang.
Justice Abang had in his judgment delivered on February 25, 2020, sentenced Metuh to seven years’ imprisonment for allegedly fraudulently receiving N400m from the office of the then national security adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki.
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