An Ikeja Special Offences Court has admitted into evidence the extra-judicial statements made by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in his ongoing trial over alleged abuse of office and corruption.
Justice Rahman Oshodi, in a ruling delivered on Thursday, dismissed the defence’s objection to the admissibility of the statements and marked them as Exhibit K31, paving the way for the substantive hearing of the case to continue.
Following the ruling, the court adjourned proceedings until October 6 for the continuation of trial.
Emefiele is facing a 19-count charge bordering on alleged gratification, corrupt demands and abuse of office involving transactions valued at 4.5 billion dollars and N2.8 billion.
His co-defendant, Henry Omoile, is also standing trial on a three-count charge of alleged unlawful acceptance of gifts.
The court had earlier fixed July 9 to determine the admissibility of Emefiele’s extra-judicial statements after his counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), challenged their validity.
The defence argued that the statements were not voluntarily made, alleging they were obtained through oppression as well as physical and psychological torture while Emefiele was in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Ojo told the court that the former CBN governor was detained for more than 157 days, relying on provisions of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, and relevant sections of the Evidence Act to contend that the statements were inadmissible.
He maintained that the central issue before the court was whether the statements were voluntarily made, arguing that video recordings of the interrogation process would have provided the most credible proof of compliance with due process.
According to the senior advocate, the absence of such recordings undermined the reliability of the statements.
He also questioned the role of the legal practitioner who witnessed the interviews and urged the court to reject the evidence.
However, the prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), opposed the application.
An investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Alvan Gurumnaan, testified that Emefiele honoured the invitation for questioning with his lawyer present throughout the interview sessions.
Oyedepo argued that the defence had failed to establish any basis for rejecting the statements, insisting they were not confessional in nature.
According to him, nothing contained in the statements could be interpreted as an admission of guilt.
Justice Oshodi, after considering the arguments of both parties, admitted the statements into evidence and ordered that the trial proceed on its merits when proceedings resume on October 6.
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