The Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Leo Ogor, a member of the PDP from Delta State, who spoke on behalf of the caucus, clarified that the demand did not mean that the lawmakers were against the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government.
Ogor added, “We are not in support of corruption or any corrupt person, but due process must be followed. Metuh has been arrested and kept in detention for nine, almost 10 days, without trial.
“We insist that he should be taken to a court of competent jurisdiction or granted an administrative bail as has been done in cases involving other persons.”
The caucus recalled that like Metuh, former Kaduna State military governor, Brig.-Gen. Jafaru Isa, a “known associate” of President Muhammadu Buhari, was also detained by the EFCC for receiving N170m from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
However, the PDP observed that in the case of Jafaru, he was granted bail soon after his arrest by the anti-graft agency.
“Isa Jafaru was granted bail after the EFCC chairman (Ibrahim Magu) visited Aso Rock. What does that tell us?” Ogor asked.
The EFCC had said Isa was granted bail after he refunded N100m from the N170m he collected from Dasuki.
Ogor added, “If you make a reference to the refund of money, then we have missed the point. The point is ‘why keep a man in detention endlessly without trial’? It is not the duty of the EFCC to direct anybody to refund money. That is the responsibility of the courts.’’
PDP’s National Legal Adviser, Mr. Victor Kwon, said that he was not at the place where the incident allegedly happened.
Kwon said, “I wasn’t there and I won’t want to react to hearsay.
“Only those who were there can confirm or deny whether the incident took place or not.”
Efforts to get the EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, to confirm Metuh’s action, had not succeeded as of the time of sending this report as calls to his mobile telephone did not connect.
FOR MORE STORIES VISIT CKN NEWS SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS:
Twitter: @CKNNigeria
Facebook: CKNNigeria
CKN NEWS Hotline: 08080054001
Whatsapp: 08099677755
BBM : 2BE329DF
Website: www.cknnigeria.com
Tags
Politics