The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator on Monday denied allegations that the extrajudicial statements of Ali Bello, Chief of Staff (CoS) to the Kogi State government, and his co-defendant in the ongoing trial were made under duress.
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The EFCC investigator, Ahmed Abubakar, who is the 1st prosecution witness (PW‑1) in the trial‑within‑trial of the defendants, told Justice James Omotosho this while being led in evidence by the EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN.
Recall that while Daudu Sulaiman is the 2nd defendant, Ali Bello, the nephew of former Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi, is the 1st defendant in the alleged N10 billion money laundering trial.
The duo, through their lawyers Abubakar Aliyu, SAN, and Olusegun Jolaawo, SAN, had on Monday objected to the tendering of the eight statements they allegedly made voluntarily by Oyedepo as exhibits.
While Aliyu, representing Bello, insisted that the six statements made by his client were not made voluntarily, Jolaawo, counsel for Sulaiman, also told the court that his client was threatened by the commission’s operatives who took his client’s two statements.
However, the EFCC’s lawyer disagreed with the defence submissions.
The development occurred when Oyedepo sought to tender the six extrajudicial statements made by Bello and the two statements made by Sulaiman as exhibits while leading Abubakar in evidence-in-chief as PW‑17.
The Kogi CoS was said to have made those statements on November 29, 2022; November 30, 2022; December 1, 2022; December 10, 2022; December 11, 2022; and December 12, 2022, respectively, while Sulaiman made the two statements on November 30, 2022, and December 1, 2022.
After hearing the counsels’ arguments, Justice Omotosho ordered a trial‑within‑trial and directed Abubakar, who is PW‑17, to give evidence as PW‑1 in the trial‑within‑trial.
The witness told the court that a member of his team, Yazid Bawa, and the team leader, Adamu Usman Yusuf, neither threatened the defendants while their statements were taken nor attempted to induce them.
He admitted that Bello was given a cautionary word notice, which was signed by the defendant himself, before he began to write the statement he made on November 29, 2022.
When Oyedepo asked the witness to read the cautionary word notice in open court, the PW‑1, while reading the document, said Bello admitted he was told to consult his lawyer before making the statement but chose to write it in the absence of his lawyer.
However, Aliyu raised an objection to Oyedepo, leading the witness to read the document. The lawyer later withdrew his objection after the judge’s intervention.
When Oyedepo asked the PW‑1 if Bello was threatened, he said: “Yazid and Adamu did not threaten the defendant in my presence.”
The witness said the allegations by the 2nd defendant (Sulaiman) that he did not make his statements in accordance with the commission’s prescriptions under the law and that he was threatened with an electric chair were false.
“I am hearing this for the first time. We don’t have any electric chair in the EFCC’s office that can electrocute someone. And no suspect has ever died of electrocution in the EFCC before,” the witness said.
The PW‑1 also told the court that Sulaiman’s lawyer, Z.E. Abbas, endorsed all the pages of the statement the defendant made and used the words: “This statement was taken voluntarily in my presence” in his endorsement.
After Oyedepo led the witness in evidence in the trial‑within‑trial, the defence lawyers cross‑examined him, and Justice Omotosho adjourned the matter until February 17 for continuation of the trial‑within‑trial.(NAN)
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