Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of statements allegedly made by the second defendant, Henry Omoile, in the ongoing trial of former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, who is facing allegations of $4.5 billion fraud and abuse of office.
Emefiele and Omoile are facing a 19-count charge of alleged fraud filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge made the order following an objection by defence lawyers, who argued that the statements were obtained under duress and should not be admitted as evidence.
Meanwhile, the court also admitted several additional exhibits tendered by the prosecution, overruling multiple objections by the defence.
Prosecuting counsel Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, continued the examination of EFCC operative Alvan Gurumnaan, who gave fresh details of the agency’s findings during the investigation.
Gurumnaan read from WhatsApp chats between a certain Mr. Henry and witness John Adetola, captured in Exhibit G, in which Henry instructed Adetola to deliver $400,000 to “Oga” and “talk to him on WhatsApp if possible.”
“During our investigation, Adetola confirmed he went to Lekki, Lagos, where he met Ayo, the personal assistant to the CBN Governor, and handed over the $400,000. He then proceeded to the CBN office in Lagos, where the money was delivered to Emefiele,” Gurumnaan told the court.
The witness added that Adetola also admitted delivering another $200,000 to Ayo, who personally handed the money to Emefiele at the CBN office.
The EFCC investigator further testified that a CBN contractor, Victor Oyedua, corroborated the transactions during interrogation. Oyedua allegedly admitted giving Ayo the $400,000 and $200,000 to facilitate the processing of pending contract payments.
“He said he had two jobs pending at the CBN and was asked to ‘settle management’ before payments could be processed,” Gurumnaan stated.
The prosecution also tendered an original letter from a company to the EFCC dated February 24, 2024, obtained during investigations.
However, defence counsel led by Olalekan Ojo, SAN, and Kazeem Gbadamosi, SAN, objected to the admissibility of the documents, arguing that they were uncertified photocopies and should be rejected.
Justice Oshodi overruled the objection and admitted the bundle of documents as Exhibit H.
In addition, the prosecution tendered Adetola’s mobile phone — Xiaomi Mi 10T — as Exhibit I. The phone, which was switched on but placed in flight mode, contained further WhatsApp conversations between Adetola and Henry.
EFCC investigators retrieved, analyzed, and presented the messages in court.
The court adjourned the matter to December 2 and 3, 2025, for the trial-within-trial proceedings.
Wale Igbintade
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