PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) publicity secretary Chief Olisa Metuh has applied to the federal high court in Abuja for permission to travel to the UK for five weeks so he can receive medical attention. 

Currently standing trial for his role in the Dasukigate scandal in which he is reported to have received cash meant to purchase military hardware, Chief Metuh is currently out on bail. His bail conditions forbid him from travelling, however, so he has had to file an appeal with the court asking that he be given his passport back and be allowed to leave the country. 

His request was contained in an application filed by his lawyer, Emeka Etiaba who complained that his client’s health condition had worsened overnight. Mr Etiaba told the court that Chief Metuh was rushed to hospital at about 1am yesterday morning following a sudden change in his condition. 

While admitting Chief Metuh to bail on January 19 this year, the court ordered him to submit his passport but allowed him the freedom to apply for its release when he intends to travel. In his application, Chief Metuh, stated that his decision to seek treatment abroad was informed by the advice by a neurosurgeon at the National Hospital, Abuja following the injury he sustained after falling from a chair on April 26. 

Chief Metuh is being tried with his company, Destra Investments, on a seven-count charge, in which he is accused of fraudulent receipt of N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014 to fund the PDP presidential campaign ahead of the 2015 poll. They are also accused of involvement in money laundering offences involving cash transaction of $2m without passing through a financial institution. 

His lawyer insists that his client is now so ill that he needs to be flown abroad for urgent medical attention. According to Mr Etiaba, when he met Chief Metuh at the court’s car park yesterday, he was informed that he had vomited in his car. 

Upon hearing the application, Justice Abang said that although Chief Metuh’s lawyer has failed to adduce tenable evidence to support his claim that his client was ill, the court would adjourn the case because it is also human. He then adjourned until May 23 and directed that the trial would subsequently proceed on a day-to-day basis in line with provisions of Section 396(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.