A Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos has adjourned till Wednesday, February 26 to rule on whether or not to continue to hear the case of the former Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele.
Justice Rahman Oshodi adjourned for ruling after Emefiele’s Counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olalekan Ojo, asked the judge to recuse himself from the trial, citing bias.
Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Kazeem Gbadamosi representing Emefiele’s co-defendant, Henry Omoile also made a similar request.
Emefiele is being tried on a 19-count charge bordering on receiving gratification and corrupt demand proffered against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
His co-defendant, Omoile, is facing a three-count charge bordering on unlawful acceptance of gifts by agents.
At the proceedings on Monday, the EFCC Lead Counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Oyedepo, concluded the evidence-in-chief of a former personal assistant to the CBN governor, Adetola John.
While leading the witness in his testimony, Oyedepo reminded him of his earlier testimony in November 2024, where he stated that he received the sum of $400,000 cash from the former director of the ICT Department, John Ayoh, and handed it over to Emefiele in his office.
The witness, Adetola, at the time, had also said that he managed office correspondence and visitors of the former CBN governor in Lagos while one Eric Odoh, the personal assistant to the CBN governor in Abuja did the same in the FCT office of the CBN. Adetola
After reminding the witness of this testimony, Oyedepo asked the witness to confirm a WhatsApp message from Eric Odoh which was printed from his phone by the EFCC investigators.
The defence team objected to this line of questioning on the grounds that the document was solely meant for identification and was not an exhibit before the court. They also argued that the witness could not read or speak into the document.
Justice Oshodi overruled the defence team and allowed the witness to read from the document marked for identification.
The judge cited Section 224 of the Evidence Act, which permits leading questions concerning introductory facts or undisputed matters
After this procedure, the lead defence counsel, Ojo, expressed dissatisfaction with the court’s decision. Rather than commence their cross-examination of the witness, through oral applications, they unanimously asked the court to recuse itself on the allegation of bias.
Mr Ojo argued that by the judge’s ruling, the court‘s decision was that the witness had already proven that the $400,000 collected by Mr Adetola was delivered.
Ojo also contended that this premature conclusion made it impossible for the defence to cross-examine the witness fairly. He requested that Justice Oshodi recuse himself from further hearings.
In his response, the EFCC counsel, Oyedepo opposed their applications.
Oyedepo said “In this proceeding, your lordship had numerous times ruled against the prosecution and if the defence is dissatisfied with the ruling of the court, they can appeal.
“I do not know what the defence is trying to prove by telling this court to recuse itself because in this case, there is no evidence of allegation of bias.
“This is a form of delay tactics and I urge your lordship to discountenance this application because a reasonable person in this court will realise that this application is meant to delay this trial.
“The court had earlier granted accelerated hearing in this case and I urge this honourable court to ask the defence to cross-examine the witness.”
Justice Oshodi adjourned till Feb. 25 to rule on the submissions.
Earlier in the proceedings, Emefiele’s counsel had informed the judge of another application seeking permission to allow the former CBN governor to appeal the court’s ruling delivered on Jan. 8, 2025, assuming jurisdiction to hear the case.
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