Olisa Metuh And The Rest Of Us, By Charles Ogbu

By Charles Ogbu

Nigerians are a very funny people. Funny in a very negative way, I mean.

Sometime in January this year, the immediate past PDP publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metu was arrested by the EFCC for receiving the sum of 400million naira from the immediate past NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki.

Olisa Metu claimed the money was payment for an unspecified job he did for president Goodluck Jonathan. EFCC dragged him to court in handcuff after detaining him for several weeks. The court set Metuh's bail at 400million with two sureties who would deposit the same amount each with the court. Don't forget, the total money he was said to have received from Dasuki which he claimed was payment for a job he did for Jonathan was 400million. Dasuki who was said to be the main source of the whole money was not brought to court in handcuffs, remember?

After meeting his bail condition, Olisa Metuh asked the court to give him permission to travel abroad to treat what the doctors described as "a massive indentations in the T3 and T4 of the spine due to an advanced degenerative disease of the cervical and lumber spine" which could leave its sufferer permanently disabled. The court refused Metu's request but right there in thesame country and at thesame time, a court gave another suspect undergoing trial for thesame offense, Attahiru Baffarawa, a one-month permission to go pray in Mecca.

You don't get it?? Hold on, let me rewind:

A law court agreed with the argument of the EFCC and refused to give Olisa Metu the permission to go treat a very serious health issue such as spinal cord abroad but Attahiru Baffarawa, a co accused, was allowed to travel to Mecca for a complete one month for prayers with no objection from the EFCC.

It is settled in law that regardless of one's alleged offence, whenever his health becomes a subject of debate, he/she must be allowed to go take care of his/her health as a man must be physically fit before you can put him on trial. Even an armed robbery suspect or a suspected terrorist is entitled to treatment before you can put him on trial. But the court refused Metuh'request to treat himself.

And what did Nigerians do??

Nigerians shouted "thief!, thief! thief!",  "you must vomit our yam or you die".  Because our mumu button 'corruption' had been activated, no one bothered to ask why a northern Muslim, Baffarawa was allowed to go pray for one month in Mecca while a southern Christian, Metuh was denied the chance to go attend to his health despite depositing a bail bond equivalent to the money he was standing trial for and even having two sureties deposit the same amount.

Olisa Metuh and his family would later make a deal with the Buhari-led govt to return the said money in exchange for his freedom to go attend to his health.

Metuh fainted twice on two occasions. As I type this, he is recovering from two surgeries.

And suddenly, thesame people who helped the Asorock tyrant achieve his aim of using vile means to weaken all voices of opposition are now asking why Metuh has been silent????

If you were Metuh, would you have preferred dying of your ailment or going physically disabled for life or would you have agreed to return the said money to stay alive and physically fit for your family???  This is an honest question and its for all you Metuh critics. Please come let us reason together. Stop hiding. Come and defend your position on Metuh.

When you joined APC propaganda machinery in peddling unsubstantiated rumors of how Metuh ate his statement and even diluted it with cold water --thesame rumor the EFCC has since denied being the originator--, what were you thinking??

You all wanted a hero but none of you want to be one. Even those who could not make a two paragraph Facebook post when fulani beasts and murderous soldiers operating with the full support of president Buhari killed hundreds of Igbo sons and daughters are suddenly asking why Metuh is quite. If Metuh had insisted on not returning the money and died or even get disabled for life, na una for still shout, "e fit  am, na our yam wey im chop, na im cripple am".

The reason why blackmail is considered a very serious crime in saner clime is not because the blackmail victim is always innocent. It is because reasonable folks know that between a man who is accused of murder and another who wants to use evidence of that murder allegation to control the accused rather than get justice for the murdered victim, the latter is the bigger devil who poses more threat to the society than even the suspected murderer. While the murder suspect stand accused of one crime of murder, the blackmailers has the potential to cause the death of hundreds of people if his blackmailing power is not taken away from him. A blackmailler does not have the interest of the society at heart. His only aim is to use his blackmailing leverage to control the life of his victim and get him/her to do just about anything including murder.

President Muhammadu Buhari's sham that is the anti-graft war is nothing but an attempt to silence all opposition voices to enable him proceed with his evil Northern/Islamization agenda!  If you do not already know this by now, then you don't know anything!!

When you guys were shouting that Metuh should be allowed to die unless he vomit your 'yam', did any of you chicken-brained southerners bother to ask why Adamu Muazu who served as PDP chairman has not been mentioned even for a day by the EFCC?? Did you ask why Namadi Sambo who was Jonathan's vice president has not been mentioned in the Dasuki affair??

You think all these monies, regardless of the source, could have been shared without a whole Vice president and a national chairman of the party receiving a penny??  Una think say e possible??

I do not exactly like Nigerian politicians especially southeast ones for obvious reasons. I detest corruption. But, make no mistake, I loathe tyranny even more and I would not hesitate to join forces with even the devil himself to fight a tyrant.

A president that is hiding under the guise of anti-corruption to perpetrate tyranny and advance an evil agenda poses more threat to the society than a thousand and one corruption suspects especially when that president is known to be an epitome of corruption. This is why I've always stood with the Shiites even when I'm not one. I cried foul when the daura attack dog, the EFCC detained FFK for 3 weeks and another 2 weeks without charging him to court. I did all these because I knew that the affected people are not being punished for the good of the country but the pleasure of one man with an evil agenda.

All of you that supported the dehumanizing treatment meted to the Metuhs, the FFKs etc but are now criticizing Metuh who is currently recovering from surgery for being quite, you need to have a second look at the mirror near you. What you see there is the face of a stupid child who killed his parents only to start begging the Judge for mercy because he is an orphan.

To Chief Olisa Metuh, I say a heartfelt Happy birthday to you as you add another year today!