Court Adjourns Ruling on Emefiele’s Forensic Review Application to September 15

Wale Igbintade

Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has fixed June 24, 2025, to rule on the application of former Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele seeking Forensic Review of WhatsApp Evidence in $4.5bn Fraud

Emefiele had asked the Lagos Special Offences Court for permission to engage a forensic expert to examine a handset device used to extract WhatsApp conversations presented as evidence in his ongoing trial for alleged $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud.

Emefiele’s counsel, Olalekan Ojo SAN, make the application on permission to call a forensic expert to examine both the phone – identified as an “iPhone 2” – and the printed conversations.

The prosecution counsel, C. C. Okezie, in her arguments told the court that by virtue of the rules of evidence and practice, once evidence of this nature has been admitted as exhibit, the court becomes the custodian of that exhibit and retains same until the conclusion of trial.

That the essence of it is for the documents to remain in the actual form and it was presented before the court.

She stated further that the defence counsel have not stated the name of the lab, their expertise and experience of the personnel that will conduct the examination of the device.

Her words: “What is more, the defendants ought to have presented options of forensic labs stating their competence for the court to pick from, we pray the court to nominate the director of forensic department in the commission to select a lab for the exercise.

“In making the order the court should direct that the examination be conducted in the presence of a person with such vast experience and knowledge to be nominated by the prosecution.

“Also, there must be proper chain of custody to ensure the device isn’t tampered with, and is returned to the court upon conclusion of the exercise.

“The duration of the forensic exercise was also not stated in their application”.

Emefiele, alongside his co-accused Henry Omoile, faces a 19-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on allegations of money laundering and fraud totaling $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion.

The court adjourned the matter till September 15, 2025 for ruling.