This followed an application by EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), who urged the court to declare Umar hostile after the witness contradicted himself while testifying in the case on May 5, 2016. By declaring the witness hostile, the prosecution will now have to cross-examine him. But ruling on Monday, Justice Ahmed Mohammed ordered that the cross-examination by the prosecuting counsel should be limited to aspects of Umar’s oral testimony considered to be contradictory. The EFCC is prosecuting Suswam and the then Commissioner for Finance in his administration, Mr. Omodachi Okolobia, on money laundering charges involving an alleged diversion of N3,111,008,018.51, said to have been stolen from the proceeds of the sale of shares owned by the state government. Jacobs had told the court on November 22, 2017, that he took the decision to declare Umar a hostile witness given the contradiction between the witness’ written statement and his testimony before the court earlier on May 5, 2016. The prosecution had, during the proceedings of May 5, 2016, abruptly cut short Umar’s testimony due to the perceived contradictions in his oral evidence. Umar, the fourth prosecution witness in the case and owner of a bureau de change firm, Fanffash Resources, had, in his testimony, narrated how Suswam, while serving as Benue State governor, allegedly instructed a cumulative transfer of N3.1bn into his company’s account between August and October 2014. He said Suswam had instructed that the money be converted to dollars. Led in evidence by Jacobs, the witness confirmed that the sum of N3.1bn was transferred to his firm’s account in six tranches and converted to dollars at the exchange rate of N197 to a dollar with the cumulative sum of $15.8m allegedly handed over to the governor. But along the line, while still being led in evidence-in-chief, the witness’ testimony took a twist which was apparently not envisaged by the prosecution when he said he took the total of $15.8m equivalent of the N3.1bn to the Government House in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, but did not hand it over directly to Suswam. “I took the money to Government House. I don’t know if they gave the money to the governor,” he said. When reminded by Jacob, Umar confirmed that he remembered that he was on oath and that he had stated in his statement to the EFCC that he handed the dollar equivalent of each of the six transfers to Suswam at the former governor’s residence in Maitama, Abuja. At the resumed hearing of the case on November 22, over a year after the previous proceedings, Jacobs urged the judge to declare Umar a hostile witness. Jacobs relied on the provisions of sections 230 and 231 of the Evidence Act in his submissions. He said, “When we came before this court on May 5, 2016, we led the PW4 in evidence. It was that the witness resigned from his previous deposition and the statement we frontloaded, particularly to the question of who he (Umar) gave the money to after it was changed into dollars. “I apply to the court to declare such witness as hostile so as to enable the prosecution to cross-examine the witness. This will enable him to explain the reason for departing from his extra-judicial statement.” In his response to the application, Suswam’s lawyer, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), said he would not oppose the prosecution’s request but urged the court to limit the prosecution to the sole issue of inconsistency in the witness’ testimony. He said the provisions of the Evidence Act in sections 230, 231 and 232 cited by the prosecution, did not permit the prosecution to cross-examine the witness without any restriction. Justice Mohammed agreed with the defence. He adjourned further trial until January 31 and February 1, 2018.]]>

"Exciting news! TheNigeriaLawyer is now on WhatsApp Channels 🚀 Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest legal insights!" Click here! ....................................................................................................................... Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material and other digital content on this website, in whole or in part, without express and written permission from TheNigeriaLawyer, is strictly prohibited _________________________________________________________________ [Register Now] ILA Nigeria Branch Marks 10 Years With Infrastructure Financing As Theme For 7th Annual Conference The International Law Association - Nigeria Branch 7th annual conference on public-private partnerships for sustainable infrastructure financing, April 4-5 in Abuja. Details: https://ilanigeria.org.ng/conference _________________________________________________________________

NIALS' Compendia Series: Your One-Stop Solution For Navigating Nigerian Laws (2004-2023)

Email: info@nials.edu.ng, tugomak@yahoo.co.uk, Contact: For Inquiry and information, kindly contact, NIALS Director of Marketing: +2348074128732, +2348100363602.