Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja has withdrawn from the N10 billion money laundering case involving Ali Bello, a nephew of former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
The judge’s decision followed allegations that crucial evidence tendered in the case had been tampered with.
Bello is facing a 10-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside his alleged accomplice, Dauda Sulaiman.
On February 5, the court had directed the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to investigate allegations that a court registrar colluded with the defendants to interfere with an exhibit already admitted as evidence.
Justice Omotosho specifically ordered an investigation into the court registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, and Sulaiman over alleged tampering with Exhibits N and O.
The EFCC concluded its case on June 2 after presenting 17 witnesses before the court.
The defendants subsequently sought permission to file a no-case submission, arguing that the evidence presented by the anti-graft agency was insufficient to establish a prima facie case against them and compel them to open their defence.
The matter was scheduled for Thursday for the defendants to adopt their no-case submission. However, when proceedings resumed, Justice Omotosho announced that he would no longer handle the case because the issue surrounding the alleged alteration of evidence remained unresolved.
The judge noted that the security agencies had still not submitted their investigation report approximately seven months after the allegations emerged.
Justice Omotosho described the allegedly tampered evidence as crucial to the proceedings, noting that the court would need to rely on it in determining whether the defendants had a case to answer.
He said whichever decision he reached could potentially generate allegations of bias, particularly given the unresolved issue involving the evidence.
The judge consequently ruled that it would be in the interest of justice for him to recuse himself and forward the case file to the Chief Judge for reassignment.
The development followed an earlier revelation by Justice Omotosho that the court registrar had confessed to him that Sulaiman approached him with a request to use a code to delete incriminating WhatsApp messages from a mobile phone that had already been admitted as evidence.
The judge subsequently played the registrar’s recorded confession in open court.
Justice Omotosho explained that his decision to bring the matter to the attention of the parties followed a directive from the Chief Judge, who, according to him, had instructed judges to disclose such matters “as early as possible.”
“We have zero tolerance for this kind of attitude. The person involved is here. I will call him so that you will hear it from the horse’s mouth,” he added.
The registrar was then called before the court to explain his interaction with the second defendant.
Zubairu told the court that Sulaiman had approached him and asked what he wanted. He said he explained that he was facing an accommodation challenge.
“He then asked me to delete some information, some WhatsApp messages in the exhibits, and promised to give me a house,” the registrar added.
The judge subsequently permitted the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, to ask EFCC Investigation Officer Muhammed Audu Abubakar to establish whether any messages had been removed from the phone.
After examining the evidence, Abubakar confirmed that some information contained in Exhibits N and O, including WhatsApp conversations from 2020 to 2022, was no longer available.
When asked to identify the specific messages he had deleted, the registrar said he could not remember, although he acknowledged opening two chats.
To demonstrate that the evidence had been altered, Oyedepo directed the witness to examine Exhibit N, particularly the conversations involving the Director General of the Kogi State Government House.
The witness confirmed that messages exchanged between December 3 and December 28, 2020, were missing.
“There was no chat on 23 December; it stopped on December 22 and continued on 29 December, 2020,” the witness confirmed.
The witness was also directed to examine page 196 of the exhibit, which contained conversations dated January 13, 2021. He said the only remaining message was “Abdurasheed will bring it to Abuja now.”
He further confirmed that a January 22, 2021 message stating “Hudu will bring it now,” was no longer available.
“There is nothing here on the phone; it has been deleted. What we have on 27th January is ‘Hudu is bringing it’, and it has been deleted,” the witness added.
The EFCC witness maintained that he had seen the missing messages during his investigation into the alleged financial crimes.
He also confirmed that a January 26, 2021 WhatsApp exchange stating “Hudu is bringing N100million,” had been deleted.
Other messages reportedly found to be missing included one dated January 30, 2021, which read: “N60m is on transit from Friday… they are on their way coming,” as well as another stating: “Hudu is on his way to Abuja… he is also coming with N30m.”
A further message dated August 30, 2021, which stated “Mr Ododo has collected N50m and will be coming tomorrow to Abuja,” was also said to have been deleted.
The witness additionally confirmed that although an extract on page 296 contained the message “Hudu is on his way, coming with N93m, N7m for TJ and for 2 Jan 2022,” the message could no longer be found on the phone.
When directed to examine page 297 for a February 28, 2022 conversation mentioning an individual identified as Rabiu, the witness responded, “It is not here, my Lord. It has also been deleted.”
The EFCC witness continued examining the records and confirmed that other significant information contained in the phone had also been removed.
Following the findings, the prosecution called for a comprehensive investigation into the alleged tampering.
“My Lord, there is a very urgent and irresistible suspicion that Exhibit N, which contains crucial evidence, has been tampered with.
“We apply that Your Lordship grant an order revoking the bail of the defendant and also order a forensic investigation of Exhibit N,” Oyedepo, SAN, submitted.
The defence lawyers expressed surprise at the development and urged the court to await the outcome of a forensic examination of the evidence.
In the charge numbered FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022, the EFCC alleged that Bello and Sulaiman fraudulently withdrew N10,270,556,800 from the Kogi State treasury and handed the funds to Abuja-based Bureau de Change operator Rabiu Tafada to either hold or convert into foreign currencies for personal benefit.
