Witness Names Media Houses Given Money By Olisa Metuh

One of the defence wit­nesses in the trial of Olisa Metuh, the for­mer Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Richard Ihediwa has revealed how the accused made cash payments to some Federal Government-owned media organisations.

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At Thursday’s proceed­ings, Ihediwa told Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the Nigerian Television Author­ity (NTA), the Federal Ra­dio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and other media houses benefitted from the N400 million which Metuh is standing trial for.

He told the court that other media outfits which were paid huge sums of money to laun­der the image of former Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan in­cluded Daily Trust, Champion and Newswatch Newspapers.

Ihediwa who gave details of the transactions during cross-examination by counsel to Destra Investment Limited, Mr Torchukwu Onwugbufor (SAN), alleged that Metuh paid cash to one Segun Ola­tunji Jacobs of the Tribune Newspaper but added that he could not remember the other print media houses that were also paid in cash.

He said that the media cam­paign to launder Jonathan’s image became necessary be­cause of the agitation from the North, the South-South, the South West and the South East.

“The issues of resource con­trol, infrastructural develop­ment and the implementation of the recommendation from the National Conference were major threats in the South-South.

“In the North, there was the issue of insecurity. The agita­tion led to a lot of demand and pressure on the former presi­dent and he felt the best way to handle the agitation was through media publicity and public enlightenment instead of the use of the gun or force,” Ihediwa said.