Television Nigerian

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday sentenced a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, to seven years imprisonment on corruption charges regarding his activities preceding the 2015 presidential election which his party lost.

Justice Okon Abang delivering judgment at the proceedings which lasted over six hours convicted Metuh on all the seven counts, including the fraudulent receipt of N400m  from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014 and use of the money for political activities of the PDP and for his personal purposes.

The court also convicted Metuh for transacting with a cash sum of $2m without going through a financial institution.

The judge agreed with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission successfully proved that the transaction violated the anti-money laundering law which pegs the maximum cash transaction an individual undertakes outside a financial institution at N5m.

He imposed sentenced Metuh to seven years imprisonment for counts 1, 2, 4 and 7, five years imprisonment in respect of count 3, and three years in respect of counts 5 and 6.

He, however, ruled that the sentences shall run concurrently which implied that he would only spend the highest number of years of jail term, which is seven, in prison.

The judge also directed Metuh to pay a fine of N375m to the Federal Government.

He also ordered Destra Investments to pay N25m to the Federal Government.

He ordered the accounts of  Destra in Diamond Bank and Asset Resource Management to be closed and their proceeds forfeited to the Federal Government.

The judge also ordered the winding up of Destra.

The Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, on Tuesday, announced the disbandment of the Zonal Intervention Squad, Obada-Oko, Ogun State.

The disbandment followed the death of a player of Remo Stars Football Club, Tiyamiyu Kazeem, allegedly caused by operatives of ZIS SARS, Obada-Oko, Abeokuta.

The Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Criminal Investigations Department Force Headquarters, Peter Ogunyonwo, made the announcement on behalf of the IGP when he accompanied the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on a condolence visit to the parents of the deceased in Sagamu.

Ogunyonwo added that the ZIS office would be handed over to the Ogun State Police Command.

Kazeem was killed by a hit-and-run vehicle after he was allegedly thrown out of a moving operational vehicle of SARS on the Abeokuta-Sagamu Expressway on Saturday.

Kazeem was until his death, the vice-captain of the Remo Stars Football Club.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to take up rice farming “because they are jobless”.

The ruling party said this in reaction to PDP’s call on the supreme court to review its verdict on the presidential election.

Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, had challenged the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari but he lost from the tribunal to the supreme court.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the opposition party also called on the apex court to review its decisions on Osun, Kano, Kaduna and Katsina states’ polls.

But in a statement, Lanre Issa-Onilu, his APC counterpart, said PDP’s request has turned it into a joke in the country’s political space.

Issa-Onilu said the opposition party has been exhibiting strange behaviours since it was rejected at the polls in 2015.

“The call by PDP asking the Supreme Court to review its rulings on the Presidential Election and governorship elections in Osun, Kano, Kaduna and Katsina States, has, once again, exposed the joke the opposition party has turned itself into in our nation’s political space,” he said.

“Never in the history of our democratic journey has a political party made a mockery of what a responsible opposition politics entails. The PDP’s call has once again, reinforced our party’s belief that the PDP has become a clog in the wheels of our country’s political evolution.

“We believe it has been difficult for some leaders of the PDP to cope for so long outside of power. There is obviously a lot of idleness at the Wadata House Secretariat of PDP.

“At this period that our government is working hard to ensure food sufficiency in the country, we urge those jobless characters at the Wadata House to seriously consider taking up rice farming. This would make them useful for our country.”

South East leadership caucus of All Progressives Congress (APC) has commended Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai for identifying with the agitation for rotational presidency in the party for the 2023 election.

Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, who conveyed the feelings of the zone in an interaction with The Guardian yesterday, noted that Governor El-Rufai’s position was a welcome development.

okechukwu remarked that although the governor did not specifically mention South-East or South-West in his position, “it was gladdening that a major political actor, a Buharist, foremost northerner and foundational member of APC is joining the agitation for the continuation of the rotation convention for the presidency from North to South.”

He said that El-Rufai’s pronouncement contrasts with issues raised by some prominent politicians that Ndigbo is not only missing in the mainstream, but also are agitating for secession, and therefore not a factor when the presidency is being discussed.