Justice Omotosho Recuses Self from Ali Bello N10.2bn Trial Over Evidence Tampering Allegation
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday recused himself from the N10.2 billion money laundering trial involving Ali Bello, nephew of former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, citing unresolved allegations of tampering with vital evidence admitted before the court.
Bello is standing trial alongside his alleged accomplice, Dauda Sulaiman, on a 10-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The case was scheduled for Thursday for the defendants to adopt their no-case submissions after the EFCC closed its case on June 2 with the testimony of 17 witnesses.
However, at the resumed proceedings, Justice Omotosho announced his decision to withdraw from the matter, saying the alleged tampering with exhibits admitted in evidence created circumstances that could give rise to allegations of bias in determining whether the defendants had a case to answer.
The judge said the security agencies had yet to submit their investigation report into the alleged tampering, about seven months after the matter came to light.
He consequently directed that the case file be returned to the Chief Judge for reassignment.
The dispute over the evidence arose after the court ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on February 5 to investigate its registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, and Sulaiman over allegations that they tampered with exhibits marked N and O.
Justice Omotosho had earlier disclosed that Zubairu confessed to him that Sulaiman approached him and asked him to use a code to delete incriminating WhatsApp messages from the defendant’s mobile phone, which had already been tendered in evidence.
The judge subsequently played the registrar’s recorded confession in open court.
Justice Omotosho said his decision to disclose the matter to the parties was in compliance with a directive from the Chief Judge that judges must report such incidents “as early as possible.”
“We have zero tolerance for this kind of attitude. The person involved is here. I will call him so that you will hear it from the horse’s mouth,” the judge said.
The registrar was subsequently summoned before the court to explain what had transpired between him and Sulaiman.
Zubairu told the court that Sulaiman approached him and asked him to delete some WhatsApp messages contained in the exhibits, promising to provide him with a house.
“He then asked me to delete some information, some WhatsApp messages in the exhibits, and promised to give me a house,” the registrar said.
The prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, then asked EFCC Investigation Officer Muhammed Audu Abubakar to verify whether messages had been deleted from the phone.
Abubakar, who is also a witness in the case, confirmed that messages contained in Exhibits N and O, including WhatsApp conversations from 2020 to 2022, had been deleted.
The witness identified several missing messages, including conversations involving officials and individuals connected to the allegations being investigated.
Among the deleted messages were exchanges from December 2020 involving the Director General of the Kogi State Government House, as well as messages from January 2021 referring to the movement of N100 million, N60 million and N30 million.
Another deleted message dated August 30, 2021, reportedly stated that “Mr Ododo has collected N50m and will be coming tomorrow to Abuja.”
The witness also confirmed that a message referring to N93 million, N7 million for “TJ” and money for January 2, 2022, could no longer be found on the phone. He further confirmed that another message dated February 28, 2022, referring to an individual identified as Rabiu, had also been deleted.
Abubakar told the court that he had encountered the deleted messages during his investigation into the alleged fraud.
Following the revelations, Oyedepo demanded a thorough investigation into the alleged tampering.
“My Lord, there is a very urgent and irresistible suspicion that Exhibit N, which contains crucial evidence, has been tampered with,” the prosecution counsel submitted.
He also asked the court to revoke the defendant’s bail and order a forensic examination of Exhibit N.
The defence lawyers expressed shock over the development and urged the court to await the outcome of a forensic investigation.
Bello and Sulaiman had applied to file no-case submissions, arguing that the evidence presented by the EFCC failed to establish a prima facie case requiring them to enter a defence.
In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022, the EFCC alleged that Bello and Sulaiman fraudulently withdrew N10,270,556,800 from the Kogi State treasury and delivered the money to a Bureau de Change operator, Rabiu Tafada, in Abuja to keep or convert into foreign currency for personal gain.
