By Victor Eneh

Many Nigerians have followed the trial of the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh closely. Interestingly, the court trial has now been subjected to media trial.

Justice Okon Abang is in the eyes of the public on how he intends to wriggle  out of the accusation that he is  out to settle old scores with Metuh, being his old classmate at the Lagos Law School, or he is under pressure from  forces outside  the judiciary to jail  the PDP leader for reasons other than the charges brought against him by the EFCC.

The curious thing here is that, somehow, it was the learned  judge himself that started the  brouhaha of externalizing court procedures as related to the Metuh case and making them subject of media and discourse.

I was indeed surprised reading on the pages of the newspapers the response of Justice  Abang to the Chief Judge of Abuja Federal High Court over Metuh’s petition asking the CJ to transfer his case to another judge, when the petition  is still before the CJ. I recall that  Abang had, in the open court, declared Metuh’s  petition to the CJ and his response as public documents, open to the media and  the next day, the media went agog with his response. I then wondered how the trial shifted from court  room to  the news  room. The question  is, what does Abang want to achieve by shifting the trial to the media? What actually is the interest of  Abang  in this trial?

I  am aware  that whenever an accused  standing trial alleges bias, the jury usually disqualifies  itself  from such case to save the integrity of the judiciary and the bench. Why is it that  Abang wants to

try Metuh by all means despite the position of the defendant and the already simmering public debate regarding the ability of a judge that has already joined issues with the accused to deliver justice?

In the same High  Court , Abuja, Justice Ahmed Muhammad, recently, disqualified himself from the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, and returned  the case file to the Chief Judge to be re-assigned to another judge because Kanu raised an objection on the sincerity of the Federal Government to give him a fair trial. Muhammad did  not want to be seen as a tool in the hands of the Federal Government in the case, so he handed  off the case.

Just last week, Justice Abdul Kafarati of the same Abuja Federal High Court disqualified himself from presiding over the charges against Senate President  Bukola Saraki over a media report of compromise.

Another curious issue  is that  Abang,  in  open court, as well as in his response to Metuh’s petition, denied knowing  the PDP leader  even after one of their classmates at Law School, Lagos, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, the immediate past Chairman National Human Rights Commission, confirmed same.

The confirmation  from  Odinkalu is enough for  Abang to stop wasting the time of the court and disqualify himself from the case. If he has scores to settle with Metuh, he can exploit other means, but not in this case unless he is under pressure from external forces to deal with the opposition spokesman.

His insistence on continuing this trial will indicate  he has special interest to jail  Metuh for whatever reason best known to him. The best thing for him at this point is to save the judiciary and himself further embarrassment and disqualify himself from the case. If he does so, he will be hailed for showing  a  level sense of fairness and as a judge.

*Eneh is a  rights advocate