Alleged $4.5bn fraud: EFCC pressured me to indict Emefiele, co-defendant alleges

Emefiele in court

A defence witness, Nnamdi Offial, on Thursday told the Special Offences Court in Ikeja that officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission attempted to coerce his client, Henry Omoile, into implicating former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele.

Offial, who represents Omoile—the second defendant in the ongoing $4.5bn and N2.8m fraud trial of Emefiele—made the allegation while testifying in a trial-within-a-trial ordered by Justice Rahman Oshodi to determine whether Omoile’s statement to the EFCC was given voluntarily.

He alleged that EFCC investigators offered inducements, including the promise of bail and possible non-prosecution, if Omoile agreed to provide incriminating evidence against Emefiele.

Emefiele and Omoile are facing charges relating to accepting gratification, receiving gifts through agents, corruption, and fraudulent receipt of property.

The EFCC also accused them of conferring corrupt advantages on associates, contrary to the Corrupt Practices Act 2000. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Offial testified that the head of the EFCC interrogation team assured Omoile that cooperation would earn him leniency.

He further alleged that investigators conducted the interrogation in a restrictive question-and-answer format, refusing to allow Omoile to write responses that did not align with their expectations.

“On several occasions, questions were put to the second defendant and he answered, but he was not allowed to write them down because the answers did not conform to what the interrogators wanted him to say. I objected to this many times,” Offial said.

He recounted that after the session of February 26, 2024, officers informed him they would continue to detain Omoile.

The following day, he found his client being interrogated without his presence and challenged the process.