National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, has expressed readiness to disclose the nature of assignment he executed for former President Goodluck Jonathan in which he was paid the sum of N400 million.
Metuh, who has been in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since January 5, said, however, that he could only speak when the matter is charged to court where his statement would not be distorted.
In a statement yesterday by his Special Assistant, Richard Ihediwa, Metuh said he has fully cooperated with investigators within his constitutionally guaranteed rights.
“In exercise of his rights, he has since given his statement to the EFCC wherein he submitted that he received the sum of N400 million from the former president for an assignment, which he executed to the satisfaction of the former president.
“In further exercise of his rights, Metuh has also indicated his readiness to make public the nature of this assignment, but only in an open court in line with the laws of the land, and where his statement would not be distorted by anybody,” Metuh’s aide said in the statement.
It added that Metuh’s continued incarceration and failure to charge him to court was intended to prevent him from telling his own story in the open court for all Nigerians to know.
The statement challenged the EFCC to prove that the discovery of N400 million payment was a product of its own investigation, but not Metuh’s voluntary statement.
According to the PDP spokesman, Metuh had, at a media briefing, acknowledged the receipt of payment from the former president for an assignment he executed for him, and expressed fear that there was a grand design to sway the public and derail the course of proper investigation with misleading and malicious reports that he made away with N1.4 billion arms deal cash and had been receiving a monthly N4 million stipend from the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).
“When this deliberate falsehood could not be sustained, it was adjusted to him receiving N400 million from ONSA,” he said.
