• It’s media persecution, he says
• Lawyer files motion to produce him in court
• Ribadu denies receiving money from ex-NSA
IT read like a script from a typical local comedy movie, but sources in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission insist it is true that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, tore the statement he made to the anti-graft agency and attempted to swallow it.

But many who were contacted yesterday doubted it happened , insisting that Metuh, being a lawyer, would not tear and attempt to chew his own statement.

In fact, a statement from his office in the PDP said he voluntarily made his statement to the anti-graft agency.
 EFCC spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, will neither deny nor confirm the development when reached on phone yesterday.

Also, members of the PDP House of Representatives caucus yesterday rose from an emergency meeting demanding that the rule of law be obeyed in respect of Metuh

Meanwhile, former Chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu has denied speculations that he received money from the Office of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, for unspecified reasons.

He said he did not associate with Dasuki while he was in office.
Part of his statement titled, “Blackmail and Malicious Fabrications,” reads:”For the record, let me categorically state that I had nothing to do with the former NSA while he was in office. I cannot remember meeting him at anytime while he held sway. It is therefore shocking for me to be accused of receiving something from someone I never had any relationship with, not to talk of refunding money he gave me.”
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Meanwhile, sequel to the suit he filed in court yesterday, challenging Metuh’s arrest and detention ,Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has again filed a fresh application before the Federal High Court, Lagos, seeking for an order to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) to produce Metuh in court.

Efforts to hear from Metuh’s own Special Assistant, Richard Ihediwa, was not possible as he could not be reached as at press time but he had sent a statement earlier in the day criticising the deliberate churning out of stories to discredit his boss, who was still in detention yesterday.

His statement reads in part: “The attention of the office of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh has been drawn to desperations to use a section of the media to spur public sentiments against the PDP spokesman, who has been in the EFCC custody since last Tuesday.

“Chief Metuh believes that the continued false reports in the media, the latest being the publication claiming that he told investigators that he would “rather starve than refund any money”, is part of the blackmail and scheme to pitch him against the public.”

The House Minority Leader, Mr Leonard Ogor, who briefed reporters on the outcome of their parley, said there was more to Metuh’s continued incarceration than meet the eye.

Urging the authorities to adhere to laid down rules, Ogor explained that the caucus position should not be misconstrued that it was not in support of the on-going anti graft campaign by the president.

The application, according to Adegboruwa, is to show cause why, the Peoples Democratic Party spokesperson should not be released.

The plaintiff argued that this is totally condemnable, for the anti-graft agency to constitute itself into the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge, all at the same time, in total violation of Section 36 of the constitution which presume an accused person innocent until the contrary is proved.

In the suit filed yesterday Adegboruwa is contending that under Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution, the EFCC has exceeded the maximum time allowed by law for detention of a citizen, without trial in any court.