Court to Decide on Emefiele's Statements in $4.5bn Fraud Case

The Lagos State Special Offences Court has set 9 July to decide if statements made by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele can be used in court. Emefiele is facing charges of fraud amounting to $4.5 billion.

The trial judge, Rahman Oshodi, announced the date after listening to arguments from both sides about whether the statements were made freely. Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly receiving bribes and making corrupt demands while Emefiele was CBN governor. There are a total of 22 charges; 19 are against Emefiele and three against Omoile.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges. During Friday’s session, Emefiele’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), opposed the use of the statements, claiming they were not made voluntarily. He argued that the statements came from oppression and mental and physical torture while Emefiele was allegedly held by the State Security Services (SSS) for over 157 days.

Ojo cited Section 4 of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, and parts of the Evidence Act. He insisted that statements made under duress are not valid in law. "The issue before this honourable court is whether the statements credited to the first defendant were made voluntarily," he said.

He added that when the voluntariness of a statement is questioned, a video recording of the interrogation is the best proof of following the law. He pointed out that without this recording, the statements lose credibility. Ojo also noted that the prosecution did not provide independent evidence to back the alleged confessions and questioned the role of the lawyer who supposedly witnessed the interviews. He asked the court to dismiss the statements, saying any doubt about their voluntariness should favor the defendant.

In response, Rotimi Oyedepo, the Director of Public Prosecutions, also a SAN, appeared in court with Bilikisu Buhari and C.C. Okezie. The prosecution’s eighth witness, EFCC investigator Alvan Gurumnaan, testified that Emefiele was invited for questioning and that his legal representative was present during all interviews.

Gurumnaan mentioned that the prosecution had withdrawn the statement from 26 October 2023 but wanted to use statements from 27 and 30 October, and 1 and 2 November 2023. "If the defence does not want that statement, we are prepared to withdraw it. We are withdrawing it not because it was obtained through torture or oppression," the witness said.

Oyedepo argued that there was no reason to hold a trial-within-a-trial since the remaining statements were not confessions. "There is nothing in the defendant’s statements that can be construed as an admission of the facts in issue," he said. He added that the Anti-Torture Act does not require a trial-within-a-trial in this case and urged the court to reject the defence’s objections and let the main trial continue.

Friday's court session is part of a high-profile trial that has had many arguments about what evidence can be used. Earlier, Omoile told the court he made false claims in one statement to the EFCC after investigators pressured him to implicate Emefiele, a claim the prosecution denied.

The defence has consistently argued that the statements used by the prosecution were not made voluntarily. Earlier on Friday, Adeyinka Kotoye, a SAN and lawyer for Omoile, told the court about a pending application to appeal an earlier ruling. The prosecution did not oppose this application, leading Judge Oshodi to approve the request.

"I hereby grant the second defendant leave to appeal the ruling of the court," the judge said. He then adjourned the case until 9 July for a decision on Emefiele’s extra-judicial statements. The court also set 6, 7, and 8 October, along with 11, 12, and 13 November, for the continuation of the main trial.