Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
Standing trial over an alleged diversion of N400million collected from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the erstwhile spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh may be no stranger to controversial dealings running into millions of Naira with alleged acquisition of properties also a flare for the Anambra born lawyer cum politician.
Investigations by this online news medium aided by documents obtained from the recently disbanded Okoi Obono-Obla Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the recovery of public funds (SPIP) linked a property located at 7 Southway, London (N20 8EB) worth over One million Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand pound Sterling (£1,650,000) to Olisa Metuh with funds for its acquisition unexplainable.
The property, a 4 bedroom freehold detached house also happens to his wife correspondence address, Mrs Kanayo Olisa-Metuh, the Director of Legend Cleaners (UK) Ltd, a Private Limited Company with number 09451910 coincidentally incorporated on February 21, 2015, a month and few days before the 2015 general elections in Nigeria.
Another property with Flat number 33 Butterfly Court, located at 16 Acklington Drive, London (NW9 5QQ) valued at Two hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Sterling (£250,000) is also alleged to belong to Metuh but registered with the name of his children Adaku Linda Metuh and Benedict Ikechukwu Uchenna Metuh.
The Two-bedroom flat SecretReporters learned is located on the upper floor of the building, it has a spacious lounge able to accommodate a sizeable dining table with a fitted kitchen and a balcony with views stretching across North West London. En-suite facilities are also provided to the master bedroom along with ample storage and a separate family bathroom.
According to records from the Lands Registry, after the apartment close to Heybourne park was acquired from new in 2013, it was put up for sale on March 2017 by Homewise Ltd, 14 months after Olisa Metuh was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), regarding some fund (Arms Deal) said to have been traced to his firm. The apartment was later sold in December same year for about Three Hundred and Sixty Pounds Sterling (£360,000).
Sources also squealed that a regular agent whom the PDP ex-spokesman allegedly uses for his property acquisitions is a Dubai based company AUM Real Estate, located Off Num. 118, Block A, Al Shafar Investment Bldg, Interchange 3, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai and managed by Deepak Batra.
Mr Metuh is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC, alongside his company, Destra Investment, on a seven-count charge of diversion of the money received when Sambo Dasuki was the National Security Adviser with February 25, 2020, fixed by the Federal High Court in Abuja as the date to deliver judgment in the N400 million fraud charge against the former PDP spokesperson, a case which has lasted for about four years.
When contacted by SecretReporters for his reaction, Mr Metuh stated that he does not own any property in the UK as his only property at the moment is located at Prince and Princesses in Abuja. “Even if I owned 200 properties in London, I wasn’t a public servant, I don’t owe anybody any explanation for it, I was never in government. I am a private citizen and I have every right to own anything” he said.
Mr Metuh further added that he only owned properties in London before 1999, sold the properties in 2006 and subsequently reinvested the proceeds in ARM for shares which he lost “I owned a property that was selling properties in Dubai, as at 2006, 2007, 2009. When I became National Vice Chairman of PDP, I felt it was wrong for someone who was an official of PDP to be selling properties in Dubai, I had to close down my business which I was making millions so that it won’t be like a party official does not have faith in Nigeria and he’s doing business of property outside.”
“I am a private person, I own a property company, I own a construction company, I own a law firm, I own all kind of things. I have never been in government and has never had an appointment in government.” He reiterated to SecretReporters that he owns no property in the UK at the moment despite having the rights to and also having established himself as a household name when it comes to mortgages and shares before the advent of democracy in the country and the present dispensation.
This news medium’s check affirms that indeed Metuh has never held any elective position or even government appointment and the law of Nigeria did not stop private individuals or political party officials from engaging in private practices.
