WorldStage– A defence witness in the ongoing trial of a former Nigeria’s Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, has admitted before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Maitama, Abuja, that he signed the defendant’s statement dated May 17, 2022.
Idris is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alongside Geoffrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited on a 14-count charge bordering on stealing and fraudulent diversion of public funds to the tune of N109.5 billion.
The admission was made by the second defence witness, Haruna Alabi, during a cross-examination by prosecution counsel, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, in a trial-within-trial instituted at the instance of the first defendant, Idris.
The trial-within-trial was ordered by the court on November 22, 2022, following an application by counsel to the first defendant, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, alleging that his client’s statements were obtained under deception and inducement.
Testifying, Alabi told the court that he visited the EFCC office on May 17, 2022, in the company of other directors from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to see Idris, who was then in the custody of the Commission.
“He was in the custody of the EFCC. To come out straight, he was not the AGF. Myself and other directors visited him at the EFCC,” Alabi stated.
The witness further disclosed that he was the only lawyer among those who visited Idris and that he signed at the back of the statement made by the former AGF on the said date.
He, however, admitted that he was not invited by the EFCC and had no prior interaction with investigators before the visit.
Under further cross-examination, Alabi stated that aside from appending his signature at the back of the statement, he neither wrote nor signed any other part of the document.
He also contradicted himself when he claimed he did not know whether Idris personally made the statement he endorsed.
When confronted with a portion of the statement he endorsed, which read, “The statement was taken freely and I signed,” the witness maintained that he did not lie, insisting that he was not present at the time the statement was made.
Earlier in his evidence-in-chief led by defence counsel, Kanayo Okafor, the witness identified his name and signature on Exhibit B3, the statement of May 17, 2022.
Justice Halilu thereafter adjourned the matter to June 24, 2026, for continuation of the trial-within-trial and directed the first defendant to ensure the presence of all his remaining witnesses on the next adjourned date.
