Court admits more evidence in Emefiele’s N4.5bn fraud trial, orders trial-within-trial

The Special Offences Division of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja has admitted additional documents as exhibits in the ongoing trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Justice Rahman Oshodi overruled the objections raised by defence counsels and ruled in favour of the prosecution, allowing the documents to be admitted in evidence. The judge also ordered a trial-within-trial to determine whether the statement made by the second defendant, Henry Omoile, in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was given voluntarily.

Emefiele and Omoile are facing a 19-count charge bordering on abuse of office, receiving gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption, and fraudulent property transactions involving $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion.

During Thursday’s proceedings, the court admitted a bundle of documents extracted from the mobile phone of John Adetola, the former executive assistant to Emefiele, which were obtained during EFCC investigations.

Lead prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), continued the examination of the eighth prosecution witness, Alvan Gurumnaan, an EFCC operative, who revealed how Emefiele allegedly received a total of $600,000 personally and through proxies.

According to Gurumnaan, a CBN contractor, Victor Onyedua, confessed during interrogation that he paid kickbacks to the “management of the CBN” to facilitate payments for executed contracts. The prosecution presented more documents to support this claim.

Defence counsels, Olalekan Ojo (SAN) and Rasheed Gbadamosi (SAN), objected, arguing that since the documents originated from the CBN, only certified true copies were admissible. However, Oyedepo maintained that they were original documents from Onyedua and public records, thus admissible.

Justice Oshodi ruled in favour of the prosecution, admitting the documents as exhibits and allowing the defence access to inspect Adetola’s phone later.

Further into the proceedings, Gurumnaan read WhatsApp messages between Omoile and Adetola, where Omoile instructed Adetola to deliver $400,000 to “oga.” Investigations revealed that Adetola allegedly handed over the money to Emefiele through his personal assistant, Ayo, in Lagos.

The witness also testified that Ayo later confirmed receiving another $200,000 from the same contractor, which he reportedly delivered directly to Emefiele. Onyedua corroborated this claim, stating he made the payments to facilitate pending contract settlements.

Oyedepo tendered additional documents, including a letter from a company to the EFCC dated February 24, 2024, as further evidence. The defence objected again, but the court overruled the objection and admitted the documents as Exhibit H. Adetola’s phone, a MI10T model, was also admitted as Exhibit I.

When the prosecution attempted to tender statements made by Omoile during the EFCC investigation, the defence objected, claiming they were made under duress.

Justice Oshodi ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the authenticity of the statements and directed both parties to report back on November 21, 2025, on the modalities for forensic inspection of the phone and WhatsApp chats presented by the EFCC.

The case was adjourned to December 2 and 3, 2025, for the mini-trial.