Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, has fixed between 2 December and 3 December, 2025, for the continuation of the ongoing $4.5 billion fraud trial involving the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
The court gave the dates after admitting additional documentary and digital evidence tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday.
Despite strong objections from the defence counsels, Olalekan Ojo (SAN) and Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), Justice Oshodi admitted the EFCC’s documents as exhibits, including a company letter obtained from the CBN and a smartphone retrieved from one of the suspects.
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The defence had argued against the admissibility of the materials, citing issues of authenticity and certification, but the court overruled the objections.
EFCC witness, Alvan Gurumnaan, continued his testimony, revealing WhatsApp messages allegedly linking Emefiele to multiple cash transactions.
According to Gurumnaan, one of the suspects, John Adetola, told investigators that he delivered $400,000 to a personal assistant of the former CBN governor, identified as Ayo, at Lekki, Lagos, on instructions from another suspect named Henry.
He further stated that Adetola later confirmed handing another $200,000 directly to Emefiele at the CBN office.
The witness said the transactions were allegedly facilitated through a CBN contractor, Victor Oyedua, to fast-track payments for two pending contracts.
Among the evidence admitted were original documents obtained from the CBN and WhatsApp conversations extracted from Adetola’s Xiaomi MI10T smartphone, which was found switched on and in flight mode at the time of recovery. The device and its contents were marked as Exhibit I.
Prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), also tendered written statements made by one of the defendants during interrogation.
Defence lawyers, however, objected, alleging the statements were obtained under duress.
Consequently, Justice Oshodi ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the statements made by the second defendant, Henry Omoile.
Following an agreement between the parties’ counsel, the court fixed 21 November, 2025, for a report on the forensic inspection of the exhibits and adjourned further hearing to December 2 and 3, 2025, for continuation of the trial.
