COURT ADMITS EMEFIELE’S EFCC STATEMENTS IN ALLEGED $4.5BN FRAUD TRIAL, DISMISS OBJECTIONS
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has admitted into evidence extra-judicial statements allegedly made by former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, dismissing objections raised by the defence in his ongoing alleged $4.5 billion fraud trial.
Delivering a ruling on Thursday, Justice Oshodi held that the statements were admissible, ruling that Section 4 of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, relied upon by the defence, did not require the court to conduct a trial-within-trial before admitting them.
The judge agreed with the prosecution that a trial-within-trial was unnecessary because none of the statements sought to be tendered amounted to a confession.
According to the court, for an extra-judicial statement to qualify as confessional, it must contain an unequivocal admission of the offences alleged against its maker.
Justice Oshodi held that nothing contained in Emefiele’s statements constituted an admission of the facts in issue and consequently dismissed the defence’s objections.
The court thereafter admitted as exhibits statements allegedly made by the former CBN governor on October 27, October 30, November 11, November 12 and November 13, 2023.
Following the ruling, the court adjourned proceedings to October 6, 7 and 8, as well as November 11, 12 and 13, 2026, for the continuation of trial.
Emefiele is standing trial alongside Henry Omoile on a 19-count charge bordering on abuse of office, receiving gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption and fraudulent property transactions involving about $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion.
Omoile is facing a separate three-count charge of allegedly receiving unlawful gifts connected with transactions involving the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At the previous hearing, Emefiele’s lead counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), urged the court to reject the statements, arguing that they were involuntarily obtained through physical and psychological torture during his client’s more than 157-day detention by the Department of State Services.
Ojo argued that the alleged circumstances under which the statements were obtained rendered them inadmissible under the Anti-Torture Act and relevant provisions of the Evidence Act.
He further submitted that once the voluntariness of a statement is challenged, the prosecution bears the burden of proving that it was freely made, maintaining that a video recording of the interrogation would have been the most reliable evidence of compliance with due process.
According to him, the absence of such recordings rendered the statements unreliable, describing them as “poisoned fruits.”
The senior advocate also contended that the prosecution failed to produce independent evidence corroborating the alleged statements and questioned the role of the lawyer said to have witnessed the interviews.
Responding, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), argued that none of the statements constituted a confession or contained any admission of the facts in issue, making a trial-within-trial unnecessary.
Oyedepo maintained that the Anti-Torture Act does not mandate a trial-within-trial in such circumstances and urged the court to dismiss the defence’s objections and allow the substantive trial to proceed.
He argued that there was nothing in the statements that could be construed as an admission of the offences alleged against Emefiele, insisting that the prosecution had satisfied the legal requirements for their admissibility.
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