Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, has reserved ruling until July 9 on the admissibility of extra-judicial statements allegedly made by former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, in his ongoing $4.5 billion fraud trial.
Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 19-count charge bordering on receiving gratification and making corrupt demands while in office. Omoile is also facing a three-count charge relating to the unlawful acceptance of gifts by an agent. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.
At Friday’s proceedings, counsel to Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), opposed the admissibility of the statements, arguing that they were not voluntarily made. He alleged that the statements were obtained through oppression, physical and mental torture during his client’s detention by the Department of State Services (DSS) for more than 157 days.
Citing provisions of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, and the Evidence Act, Ojo contended that the absence of video recordings of the interrogations undermined the reliability of the statements. He further argued that the prosecution failed to provide independent evidence to support the alleged confessional statements and questioned the role of the lawyer said to have witnessed the interviews.
He urged the court to reject the statements, maintaining that any doubt regarding their voluntariness should be resolved in favour of the defendant.
Responding, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), who led the prosecution team, called EFCC investigator Alvan Gurumnaan as the eighth prosecution witness.
The witness told the court that Emefiele was invited for questioning and that all interviews were conducted in the presence of his legal representative. He also disclosed that the prosecution had voluntarily withdrawn one of the statements dated October 26, 2023, while seeking to tender statements made on October 27, October 30, November 1 and November 2, 2023.
Oyedepo argued that none of the statements constituted a confession and therefore did not warrant a trial-within-trial. He further submitted that the Anti-Torture Act did not make such proceedings mandatory under the circumstances and urged the court to dismiss the defence’s objection and allow the substantive trial to proceed.
Earlier, counsel to the second defendant, Adeyinka Kotoye (SAN), informed the court of a pending application seeking leave to appeal an earlier ruling. The prosecution did not oppose the application, and Justice Oshodi subsequently granted the request.
The matter was adjourned until July 9, 2026, for ruling on the admissibility of Emefiele’s statements.
