The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Olisa Metuh, should face his trial in the N400 million money laundering charge brought against him by the Federal government.
A five-member panel of Justices of the apex court had, in a composite judgment on the separate appeals brought before the court the former PDP spokesman and his company, Destra Investments Limited, unanimously affirmed the May 25, 2016, judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.
The Appellate Court dismissed Metuh’s appeals for being incompetent, and went on to uphold March 9, 2016 ruling of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which dismissed Metuh’s no-case submission.
he judgment of the Court of Appeal which was affirmed by the apex court on Friday had held that Metuh’s appeals failed to comply with the constitutional requirement.
According to the Court of Appeal, Metuh and his company failed to first obtain the leave of either the trial court or the appellate court before filing a notice of appeal as required by the Constitution when filing an appeal against an interlocutory decision, on the grounds of mixed law and facts.
Justice Dattijo Mohammed, who headed the five-member, prepared the lead judgment of the Supreme Court and was read on his behalf by Justice Ejembi Eko, wherein, all the three issues raised in the appeals were resolved against Metuh.
The apex court held that as much as the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to hear the appeals, the Supreme Court too could not entertain the appeal arising from the incompetent appeals before the court below.