Embattled National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, Friday, said his witness never told the Federal High Court in Abuja that money was paid to media houses or their representatives, from the controversial N400million, to launder the image of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Metuh, in a statement signed by his lawyer, Ben Chuks Nwosu, described the report which he said was published by some media outlets (Vanguard not inclusive), as “misleading and embarrassing”.
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He said the report did not in anyway reflect the testimony and evidence of the fifth Defence Witness (DW-5), Mr.
Richard Ihediwa, in the court.
Giving his own account of what transpired in court, Metuh, stated: “What the witness told the court was that the sum paid into his account by Chief Metuh, who was National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at the time was for payments for sundry advertorials placed by Chief Metuh in various media houses.
“The witness had earlier laid a proper foundation that media advertorials from the PDP are placed and paid for by the National Publicity Secretary, mostly in cash or through bank transfers to the media house through their representatives covering the party.
“The witness, who is Special Assistant to our client, stated directly and clearly that all the payments to the media were for advertorials, and that paying through representatives of the media houses was the normal practice in the media industry. He went ahead to present documents including bank tellers to justify the payments. The records of the court are clear in this regard.
“Furthermore, when questioned under-cross examination regarding the appearance of names of some journalists in the payment tellers, the witness stated clearly that the payments were for advertorial placed in their respective media houses and showed documents to justify the payments in line with the practice in the media industry.
“At no point throughout his testimony did the witness tell the court that any media house or any representative/staff of any media house was paid in whatever form to launder the image of the former President as suggested in the misleading report.
“We find this particularly painful for the fact that since the arrest and arraignment of our client, he had never attempted in anyway to drag in any individual and/or organization in connection with his travail.”
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