A judge, two days ago ordered Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan to appear at the corruption trial of his party’s former spokesman.
The summon is a shocking development and will be closely watched, as Jonathan has been cited in several corruption cases but is not thought to have been formally questioned.
But whether he appears depends on when or if he is formally served the court papers in time.
Olisa Metuh is on trial accused of having fraudulently received from 400 million naira ($1.1 million, 945,000 euros) from Jonathan’s national security advisor, Sambo Dasuki.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman is still certain he received the money on Jonathan’s orders to fund his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2015.
Judge Abang Okon, sitting at the Federal High Court in Abuja, said it would be “tantamount to violating the right of (Metuh) to (a) fair hearing not to sign the subpoena”.
“I have no option other than to sign a subpoena to compel former President Goodluck Jonathan to appear in court on October 25, 2017 to give evidence,” he added.
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