Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Friday, has quashed any notion that he would recuse himself from the trial of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh and will continue to oversee proceedings.
The PDP spokesperson had alleged that himself and Abang were classmates in Law School, and further stressed that they had a brittle relationship, which will ultimately affect his trial.
Justice Abang dismissed this, citing that Metuh had failed to credibly establish his allegation that the court was biased towards him.
“The said petition was forwarded to this court for my response. I responded and the CJ in a letter dated March 24, said he was satisfied with the explanation of the Court.”
“Having held that the 1st defendant has not disclosed facts that shows that the court is biased, it is my view that this application lacks merit, it is an abuse of court process and it is accordingly dismissed.”
The court also dismissed Metuh’s plea for a stay of proceeding on his trial pending the outcome of an appeal he lodged before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.
Justice Abang explained that it would have been a different matter if the case had been civil in nature, but as it wasn’t, an adjournment was out of the question.
He said: “But this is a criminal matter. Under section 306 of the ACJA, no application for stay of proceeding in respect of criminal matter shall be entertained. Moreover, there is no order from the Court of Appeal for this court to stay its proceeding.”
“Therefore, the application filed by the defendant for an adjournment pending hearing of his appeal cannot frustrate the proceeding before this court from going on today (yesterday).”
“Granting of application for adjournment is at the discretion of the court and such exercise of discretion must point to nothing but Justice of the case.”
The Justice has now ordered that Metuh open his defense against the charges levied against him on Monday.