The Special Offences Division of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has admitted additional documents tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the ongoing trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
Justice Rahman Oshodi overruled objections raised by defence counsels and admitted several exhibits, including documents extracted from the phone of Emefiele’s former executive assistant, John Adetola.
The EFCC’s eighth prosecution witness, Alvan Gurumnaan, detailed how Emefiele allegedly received a total of $600,000 in kickbacks—personally and through proxies—from CBN contractor, Victor Onyedua. Gurumnaan testified that Onyedua confessed to paying $400,000 and $200,000 in separate transactions through intermediaries to “settle management” before contract payments were released.
The court also admitted Adetola’s MI10T mobile phone as an exhibit after EFCC investigators presented WhatsApp chats showing instructions to deliver cash to “Oga,” believed to be Emefiele.
Defence counsels, led by Olalekan Ojo (SAN) and Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), objected to the admissibility of the documents, arguing they were uncertified public records. However, Justice Oshodi ruled that the documents were valid originals and admissible.
Following the defence’s claim that one of the defendants’ statements was made under duress, the court ordered a trial-within-trial to verify its voluntariness. The matter was adjourned to November 21, 2025, for a forensic inspection report, and December 2–3, 2025, for the mini-trial.
