A witness, Mr. Richard Ihediwa, in the ongoing trial of
former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party, Olisah Metuh, said on Thursday that
the N400m Metuh got was disbursed as directed by ex-
President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ihediwa, led in evidence by the counsel to Metuh, Mr.
Emeka Etiaba (SAN), told the Abuja High Court that
Jonathan gave the directive on how the amount was to
be spent.
He said that N21m was paid to former PDP Chairman,
Chief Tony Anenih, for a property acquired for use by the
party as its media intervention centre.
He added that although the property, located in Asokoro
area of Abuja, did not belong to Anenih, he assisted the
PDP media team headed by the accused in securing it.
He said, “The amount covered the cost of hiring the
structure, utility vehicles as well as security gadgets at
the centre.”
The witness also told the court that various sums were
paid to some groups coordinated by some government
functionaries, including the late Oronto Douglas and
Abbah Dabo.
He said he was not very certain about the amount
released to late Douglas, but added that N25m was
released to Dabo as mobilisation fee for advocacy
groups, in line with the directive.
Ihediwa said the former president also approved
different amounts for some other groups and Metuh
disbursed the funds to them accordingly.
He said because of the tension and high level of
insecurity across the six geo-political regions of the
country then, there was the need for government to
mobilise various advocacy groups to stabilise the
system.
Meanwhile, Justice Okon Abang has reserved ruling for
November 15 on applications filed by the defence
counsel.
NAN
