Metuh had since January 5, 2016 been taken into custody by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for questioning for allegedly benefiting from the $2.1bn arms funds allegedly diverted by a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).

The EFCC believed that Metuh received N400m of the allegedly diverted arms funds, but the PDP spokesperson had reportedly claimed that the sum was for an undisclosed service he rendered to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

On Monday, Metuh claimed in the suit he filed through his lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, that his arrest was part of the grand plan of the ruling All Progressives Congress to silence the opposition and make Nigeria a one-party country.

Adegboruwa, who personally deposed to an affidavit of urgency in support of Metuh’s suit, averred that since his swearing-in May last year, President Muhammadu Buhari had launched “a massive attack upon the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, in the guise of fighting a nebulous anti-corruption war.”

Metuh, through Adegboruwa, sought a declaration that his detention by the EFCC without access to his family and lawyer, and without being charged to court, amounted to a violation of his fundamental rights guaranteed under sections 33, 34, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 of the Constitution.