Ex Sambo Aide Testify Against Metuh, Returns N25m

Abba Dabo, former Special Adviser, Political Matters to thenVice President, Namadi Sambo, has told the Federal High Court, Abuja, that hehad returned the sum of N25million he had collected from Peoples DemocraticParty,PDP,  spokesman, Olisa Metuh.He said the money was for him use in countering negativecriticisms against the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, both inthe traditional, and in the social media.Dabo, who appeared as the seventh witness to testify against Metuhwho is standing trial over a seven-count charge of money laundering, told thecourt that he had to returned the money to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC, when he discovered that the money was part of the arms fund that wasallegedly diverted by the then National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.According to him; “On December 16, 2014, Metuh paid N25m throughDestra Investment Limited account into my personal account for purposes ofpublicity for the PDP.“When it became obvious that former President Goodluck Jonathanwill run for office, government officials, and party leaders started to meet toreview the achievements of the government and prepare for the elections.”“In the course of those meetings, a lot of concern was shown inthe opposition’s total control of the media. The PDP was getting negativepublicity, and ministers were told to speak more to the press to enhance theimage of the government.”“On my part, we set up a media support group and registered itas ‘Media Support System’ to do media work for the party. We commissionedwriters to write and be paid to promote the government.”“We called it rapid response team, which was successful. It wasits success that led to more meetings with Metuh.”The former aide, further told the court that the social media,particularly, was becoming vicious and critical of the then ruling party, PDP,just as Hausa radio stations equally became a problem for the party, so thespokesman felt he(Debo) could be of help, which was why he was given the N25million, just five days after the party’s presidential nomination convention. “With that money, we setup a team of facilitators and young IT enthusiasts to run a website called,‘What’s up Naija’ but we could not register it because the Corporate AffairsCommission (CAC) wanted it to be ‘What’s up Nigeria.’“Because the money was linked to the controversial arms deal, Idecided to return it. On my own accord, I decided the best way out of thisrigmarole was to pay back the money. I paid it back to the Economic andFinancial Crimes Commission, EFCC.”Dabo, a former editor of the Sunday New Nigeria, Kaduna, GaskiyaTefi-Kwabo, the Hausa version, is also a onetime Chief Press Secretary toformer President Shehu Shagari.