Nigeria’s former president summoned

ABUJA: A judge on Tuesday ordered Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan to appear at the corruption trial of his party’s former spokesman.

The summons is a surprise development and will be keenly 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 from Jonathan’s national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki. The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman maintains he received the money on Jonathan’s orders to fund his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2015.

On Monday, Metuh’s lawyers said they intended to call the ex-head of state as a witness. 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".