Court Adjourned hearing as Olisa Metuh Reportedly Collapsed in Church

Olisa Metuh

A former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, is on admission at the National Hospital, Abuja, his lawyer, Mr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), told a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.

Ikpeazu said Metuh was rushed to the hospital after he collapsed while rising to sing in his church in Abuja on Sunday.

The lawyer told the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, this, while giving reasons for the absence of Metuh from court, where the ex-spokesperson for the PDP, is being prosecuted along with his company, Destra Investment Limited, for offences relating to separate transactions of N400m and $2m.

At the resumed hearing of the case on Tuesday, when Metuh was scheduled to call his seventh defence witness, his lawyer, Ikpeazu, sought an adjournment of the trial till Wednesday to enable his client to obtain a medical report on his health condition.

Ikpeazu said, “The first defendant is absent because he is sick. He was rushed to the National Hospital in Abuja on Sunday after he collapsed while trying to stand up from his seat to sing in his church.”

The lawyer said the ex-spokesperson for the PDP was later on Sunday taken from the National Hospital to an Indian hospital in Karu, Abuja, and later back to the National Hospital, where he was until the Tuesday’s proceedings.

He however said due to ongoing tests being carried out on his client, the hospital had not been able to issue a medical report which he could present in court.

In response, prosecuting counsel, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, said in the absence of a medical report disclosing Metuh’s health status, the court should disregard the submission of the defence lawyer and go ahead with the proceedings in the absence of the accused person.

Tahir said by the provision of Section 354(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, the state of health of the accused person, not supported by a medical report, did not constitute a reasonable ground for an adjournment.

He added that in line with the provision of the law cited, the court should go ahead with the proceedings in Metuh’s absence.

But Ikpeazu insisted that his application for adjournment was reasonable.

“In the alternative, I can go with my learned friend (the prosecutor); he is an officer of the court to the National Hospital. The first defendant is at Ward A4. It is only when that fails and my explanation is belied that my submission can be said to be unreasonable,” Ikpeazu said.

In his contribution, counsel for Destra Investment, Metuh’s firm, Mr. Tochukwu Onwugbufor (SAN), said the provision of Section 354 of the ACJ Act, cited by the prosecuting counsel, was not relevant to the circumstance of the case.

In his ruling, Justice Abang decided to adjourn till today, Wednesday. 

Culled from the Punch