Court Strikes Out Suit Seeking Metuh’s Retrial

A suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, for retrial has been struck out by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

In his ruling, Justice Emeka Nwite described the seven-count criminal charge in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/05/2022 filed by the EFCC, as “an abuse of court process.”

The anti-graft agency had earlier filed the suit before Nwite for the retrial of Metuh (1st defendant) and his company, Destra Investments Ltd, listed as the 2nd defendant in the case.

Justice Nwite held that he aligned with the arguments of counsel for Metuh, Afam Osigwe, SAN, and lawyer to his company, Tochukwu Onwugbufor, SAN, that while the matter was pending before the Supreme Court, it was a gross abuse of the court for the commission to have filed the same matter for retrial before him.

In his ruling, the judge said after listening to the submissions of the counsel in the suit, there was no way the matter could come back to his court without resolving the issues before the Supreme Court.

“I agree with the argument of the 1st defendant concurred by the 2nd defendant that it is an abuse of court process and I so hold,” he said.

He then struck the suit out for being an abuse of court process.

The matter, which was number eight on the cause list, was scheduled for Metuh, who was in court, to take his plea.