The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) has decried what it described as the Presidency’s mockery of a former spokesman of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh who is currently standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
On the insistence of the trial judge to have the ailing Metuh brought to court or be sent to prison, the ex party spokesman was driven to the court premises in an ambulance and taken to the court room in a stretcher.
Reacting to the condition in which Metuh was brought to court, a presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie had described the scenario as a “Nollywood act”, implying that Metuh feigned his pitiable condition.
But in a statement on Wednesday by the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said it was eminently revealing that the Presidency had more than passing interest in Metuh’s case.
The PDP described the statement by the presidential aide as unwarranted and unjustified official intrusion and negative suggestions in Metuh’s trial.
Describing the presidential aide’s comment as hateful, the PDP said it has further confirmed that the interest of the current administration in the matter was beyond the bounds of seeking justice in the matter.
The party complained that the Presidency has been intruding into Metuh’s case since inception, with the view to setting him up before the judiciary.
The statement said, “It is repulsive that a Presidential aide has once again intruded directly, with malicious suggestions, in a matter that is on judicial trial, thus further exposing that Chief Metuh’s travails in the course of the trial may have been politically hatched and orchestrated.
“It is instructive to state that Chief Metuh, whose spinal chord ailment has badly deteriorated, was brought to court in his current medical state, sequel to the order of the trial judge.
“It is public knowledge that Justice Abang on January 25, 2018 rejected medical reports from doctors at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where Chief Metuh had been on admission and ordered him to appear in court on Monday, January 5, 2018 or have his bail revoked. In fact, the judge ruled that he would thenceforth not accept any other report issued by any medical doctor on the accused.
“It is therefore irresponsible, wicked and an unpardonable act of inhumanity, for the Presidency or any of its agents to mock Chief Metuh for obeying the order of court, even in his current state of health”.
Alleging a sinister design against Metuh, the PDP said it has information that government agents have been harassing medical aides and practitioners across the country for offering any form of treatment or assistance to him.
The party said that viewing such alongside negative and hostile disposition towards medical reports on Metuh, any responsible person can safely conclude that there is a grand conspiracy to persecute the accused.
“While we are not opposed to the trial of any of our members for any matter whatsoever, we insist that the process must be fair, without external influences and in strict compliance with provisions of the law”, the statement added.