How Olisa Metuh Committed Political Suicide
Editors note: Following the discovery that the national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh allegedly partook in the sharing of funds meant to purchase arms for the Nigerian Army battling insurgency in the northeast.
Political commentator, Kess Ewubare explains how Metuh triggered his current travails which may eventually lead to his political irrelevance.
Popular for the wrong reasons
For the past weeks, Chief Olisa Metuh has been popular for all the wrong reasons. Since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested the national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at his residence located at drive one, Prince and Princess Estate, in the Games Village area of Abuja January 5, he has dominated in all sections of the media.
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Metuh is facing investigation for allegedly collecting about N400m from the office of the former national security adviser, Sabo Dasuki, part of the funds meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition for the fight against Boko Haram in northeast which the Nigerian Army never received, thanks to patriotic citizens like Metuh.
But the climax of Metuh's predicament came when he was handcuffed by the Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) as he appeared for his trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, January 19.
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As expected, the arrest and handcuffing Metuh has drawn widespread condemnation from the PDP. The opposition has ran to the gallery accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of using anti-corruption agencies and other institutions of state to subject accused persons like Metuh to inhuman treatment.
The party also claims Metuh’s ordeal at the hands of the anti-graft agencies was an intent by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration to deride the PDP as well as taint the party as a party of corrupt individuals even when they were yet to be convicted by any competent court.
But these baseless accusations by a party which celebrates people like James Ibori, Peter Odili, Joshua Dariye, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, Lucky Igbinedion, Chief Bode George, Sambo Dasuki and Goodluck Jonathan among others who are accused of perpetuating corruption in high places should not come as a surprise to Nigerians.
How Metuh Committed Political Suicide
What the PDP has failed to realise is that Olisa Metuh committed political suicide when he collected N400m from Dasuki and still had the nerve to attract attention to himself by constantly attacking an administration that was busy trying to deal with the mess that he and his league of looters had created.
Prior to his arrest, Metuh displayed the kind of disposition that violates the principle “that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands”. Aware that he had skeletons in his cupboard, Metuh should have kept quiet rather than constantly gallivanting the media taking swipes at the APC administration which is battling to clean the filth he and his PDP cohorts have heaped on the country.
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He shot himself in the foot when he chased cheap popularity by raising alarm that the economy of the country was crumbling and that the insurgency in the northeast was worsening when he knew that he was among those who had milked Nigeria dry and shared in the blood money many of our gallant soldiers died for but never received.
In a Punch report dated January 12, 2016, Olisa Metuh himself made a confessional statement to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that Goodluck Jonathan gave him N400m for a job which he refused to disclose. This was after he tore his confessional statement and decided to swallow the paper so as to eat his words literally.
How PDP is advertising shamelessness
Even after his confession, the PDP has chosen to close its eye to Metuh’s statements by pretending that shame has gone out of fashion.
In advertising shamelessness, the party still has the nerve to demand for the release of Metuh, warning that his arrest was capable of ruining the country’s democracy as stated by its national secretary, Prof. Adewale Oladipo, in a Punch report of January 5, 2016.
Let’s ask this question, if a man who has confessed to stealing N400M (one million in 400 places) is handcuffed, is it be a big deal?
Olisah Metuh deserves what he is getting, he should have learnt from men like Chief Bode George and Peter Odili who have chosen to lay low so as to hide their alleged financial crimes.
One thing is certain following Metuh’s arrest, he is on his way to political irrelevance now that some national officers of the party have asked him and the acting chairman, board of trustees, Haliru Mohammed and others to step down with immediate effect.
Whether his political death comes now or later, Metuh should bear in mind that he caused his own downfall by talking too much when he knew he had skeletons in his cupboard.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Legit.ng.
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