Court reserves ruling on EFCC’s digital evidence against Emefiele

By Adenike Ayodele

An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Wednesday reserved its ruling until Thursday, 9 October, on the admissibility of digital evidence tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the ongoing trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele.

Justice Rahman Oshodi fixed the date after hearing intense arguments from both the prosecution and the defence on whether the documents and messages extracted from a former executive assistant to Emefiele met the legal requirements for admissibility.

Emefiele is standing trial alongside his associate, Mr Henry Omoile, on a 19-count charge bordering on alleged receipt of gratification, corrupt demands, and unlawful acceptance of gifts.

The charges involve financial transactions reportedly totalling $4.5 billion and ₦2.8 billion.

During Wednesday’s hearing, EFCC counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), led operative Mr Alvan Gurumnaan in continuing his testimony on digital evidence obtained during the investigation.

The evidence included WhatsApp conversations allegedly showing coded exchanges and instructions on cash deliveries. Gurumnaan told the court that the acronym “PCS” seen in the chats meant “piece”, a term the parties allegedly used to refer to $1,000 units.

He also testified that messages recovered from the phone of Emefiele’s former executive assistant, Mr John Adetola, revealed discussions with one Mr Eric Eboh, who purportedly instructed Adetola to deliver $400,000 to the former CBN governor.

The witness added that Adetola confirmed delivering the money and that efforts to trace Eboh were still ongoing.

While some documents dated February 2024 were admitted without objection, defence lawyers, Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN) and Mr Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), opposed the admissibility of others extracted from Adetola’s device.

They argued that the digital evidence had not been properly certified as required under Section 84 of the Evidence Act.

The EFCC, however, countered that the documents were primary evidence, not requiring certification, since they were directly extracted from the original device using verified forensic tools.

Oyedepo added that any EFCC officer familiar with the extraction process could validly testify to their authenticity.

Justice Oshodi adjourned the matter until 9 October for a ruling on the admissibility of the evidence.