Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Friday, June 26, 2026, adjourned proceedings in the alleged $4.5 billion fraud trial involving former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, until July 9, 2026, for a ruling on the admissibility of extra-judicial statements allegedly made by Emefiele.
Emefiele is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 19-count charge bordering on receiving gratification and making corrupt demands during his tenure as Governor of the CBN.
His co-defendant, Omoile, is facing a three-count charge relating to the unlawful acceptance of gifts by an agent. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At Friday’s proceedings, counsel to Emefiele, Chief Olalekan Ojo (SAN), opposed the admissibility of the extra-judicial statements the prosecution sought to tender, arguing that they were not made voluntarily.
Ojo told the court that the statements were allegedly obtained through oppression, physical torture and mental pressure while his client was detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) for more than 157 days.
Relying on provisions of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, and relevant sections of the Evidence Act, the defence argued that the statements were involuntary and should therefore be rejected by the court.
“The issue before this Honourable Court is whether the statements credited to the first defendant were made voluntarily,” Ojo submitted.
He further argued that where the voluntariness of a statement is challenged, video recordings of interrogations remain the most reliable means of proving compliance with due process, adding that the absence of such recordings rendered the statements unreliable.
The defence also contended that the prosecution failed to produce independent evidence to support the alleged confessional statements and questioned the role of the legal practitioner who reportedly witnessed the interviews.
Ojo urged the court to reject the statements, arguing that any doubt concerning their voluntariness should be resolved in favour of the defendant.
Responding, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), who appeared alongside Bilikisu Buhari and C.C. Okezie, called the prosecution’s eighth witness, Alvan Gurumnaan, an investigator with the EFCC.
The witness told the court that Emefiele was invited for questioning and that all interviews were conducted in the presence of his legal representative.
Gurumnaan further disclosed that the prosecution had voluntarily withdrawn a statement dated October 26, 2023, while seeking to tender statements made on October 27, October 30, November 1 and November 2, 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 told the court.
Oyedepo argued that there was no basis for conducting a trial-within-trial, maintaining that none of the remaining statements amounted to a confession.
“There is nothing in the defendant’s statements that can be construed as an admission of the facts in issue,” he submitted.
He also argued that the Anti-Torture Act does not make a trial-within-trial mandatory under the circumstances and urged the court to dismiss the defence objection and allow the substantive trial to continue.
Earlier in the proceedings, counsel to the second defendant, Adeyinka Kotoye (SAN), informed the court of a pending application seeking leave to appeal an earlier ruling of the court.
The prosecution raised no objection to the application, following which Justice Oshodi granted the request.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter until July 9, 2026, for a ruling on the admissibility of the disputed statements.
