The Special Offences Division of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, has admitted additional documents as exhibits in the ongoing trial of former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele.
Justice Rahman Oshodi overruled objections from the defence counsels and accepted the documents as evidence. The court 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.
Omoile is standing trial alongside Emefiele on a 19-count charge of abuse of office, receiving gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption, and fraudulent property transactions involving $4.5 billion and ₦2.8 billion.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Justice Oshodi first admitted a bundle of documents extracted from the mobile phone of John Adetola, Emefiele’s former executive assistant, obtained during the EFCC’s investigation.
Lead prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), continued the examination of the eighth prosecution witness, Alvan Gurumnaan, an EFCC operative, who provided fresh details about the investigation.
Gurumnaan testified that the team uncovered how Emefiele allegedly received a total of $600,000 personally and through proxies. He added that a CBN contractor, Victor Onyedua, confessed during interrogation that he had paid kickbacks to “the management of the CBN” to secure payment for executed contracts.
The prosecution tendered another set of documents showing contract awards by the CBN to Onyedua, which he had submitted to investigators.
Defence counsels Olalekan Ojo (SAN) and Rasheed Gbadamosi (SAN) urged the court to reject the documents, arguing that they were public records belonging to the CBN and therefore required certification as true copies before admissibility.
Oyedepo countered, stating that the documents were original correspondences submitted by Onyedua and did not require further certification. Justice Oshodi agreed, ruling that a validly admissible document automatically carries its attachments.
The court also admitted Adetola’s phone (a Xiaomi MI10T) as an exhibit, granting the defence permission to inspect it later.
However, defence counsel for Omoile objected to the admission of his statements to the EFCC, claiming they were obtained under duress and without legal representation.
Following legal arguments, Justice Oshodi ordered a trial-within-trial to examine the circumstances surrounding the statements. The court adjourned the case to 2 and 3 December 2025 for the mini-trial and directed parties to reconvene on 21 November 2025 to report on arrangements for a forensic inspection of the phone and WhatsApp conversations already tendered.
During further testimony, Gurumnaan read WhatsApp messages between Henry Omoile and John Adetola from Exhibit G, in which Henry instructed Adetola to deliver $400,000 to “Oga”. Gurumnaan said Adetola confirmed visiting Ayo, Emefiele’s personal assistant, in Lekki, Lagos, to hand over the money, which was later delivered to Emefiele at the CBN office.
The EFCC operative added that Ayo confirmed receiving the money and delivering it to Emefiele. He also admitted receiving another $200,000 from the same contractor, which he gave directly to Emefiele.
According to Gurumnaan, contractor Victor Onyedua told investigators that he paid the sums after being informed he needed to “settle management” to facilitate payment for two pending contracts.
The prosecution presented further documents from the CBN, including an original letter from a company to the EFCC dated 24 February 2024, as evidence of materials received during the investigation.
Defence counsels objected again, questioning the authenticity of the photocopied documents, but Justice Oshodi dismissed the objection and admitted the materials as Exhibit H.
The judge also confirmed that Adetola’s mobile phone remained in working condition, set to flight mode, and admitted it as Exhibit I.
Finally, the court reaffirmed the trial-within-trial order regarding Omoile’s disputed statements and scheduled the next hearing dates for 21 November, 2 December, and 3 December 2025.