* Metuh |
People’s Democratic Party, PDP, National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh standing trial before Justice O.E Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja
may remain in Kuje prison till tomorrow, January 27, 2016 for the judge to rule on his application for bail variation.
Metuh who is still being held in Kuje prison for failure to perfect his bail conditions had, before the commencement of his trial today prayed the court for bail variation through his counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN.
“We have a pending application seeking a variation on the bail conditions earlier granted the defendant. We have made honest effort to fulfill the conditions but have not been able to. The defendant being in custody would not have the opportunity to avail us the necessary documents for his defence. We urge your Lordship to give consideration to our prayer”, Ikpeazu pleaded.
“Besides, we are just served with an additional proof of evidence by the prosecution and we have not gone through it with the defendant, so I urge the court to adjourn the trial to enable the defendant get his personal documents”, he further urged.
Responding, counsel to EFCC, Sylvanus Tahir, told the court that he was only served with the application few minutes before the court session started.
In his opposition to the application, Tahir told the court that, “the business of the day is to commence trial on this matter, so to hear this application will be a distraction to the court”.
He urged the court to fix a later day for the hearing on the application and ordered the trial to commence as the witnesses were already in court to testify.
Justice Abang, after listening to the arguments of both counsels, adjourned the hearing on the application to January 27, 2016 and ordered the trial to commence as scheduled.
The judge however added that, the prosecution would only be allowed to present only the witnesses whose statement and proof of evidence had earlier been served on the defence.
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