Digital Smoking Gun? Court Admits WhatsApp Chats Detailing $400K Cash Handover in Emefiele’s $4.5 Billion Trial
The high-stakes $4.5 billion fraud trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, took a decisive turn as an Ikeja Special Offences Court admitted a critical piece of digital evidence: WhatsApp conversations allegedly detailing millions of dollars in cash transfers.
Justice Rahman Oshodi overruled objections from the defense and accepted the digital chats, designated as Exhibit “G,” into evidence. This decision marks a significant victory for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), providing the prosecution with a potential “digital smoking gun” in the case that involves 19 counts of receiving gratification and abuse of office against Emefiele.
The WhatsApp Trail: $400,000 to “Oga”
During Thursday’s proceedings, EFCC investigator Alvan Grumnaan presented the core of the digital evidence, reading aloud WhatsApp exchanges between Emefiele’s co-defendant, Henry Omoile, and a key witness, John Adetola.
The conversation reportedly included an instruction from Omoile to Adetola to deliver $400,000 to “oga,” a term the investigator confirmed referred to Emefiele.
Grumnaan provided the court with a detailed trail of the alleged corrupt transaction:
Instruction: Omoile’s chat instructed Adetola on how to meet a person named Ikechukwu-Ayoh to collect the $400,000 on behalf of Emefiele.
Confirmation: Adetola, a former aide to Emefiele, confirmed meeting Ikechukwu-Ayoh (Emefiele’s personal assistant) in Lekki and subsequently handing over the cash at the CBN office in Lagos.
Corroboration: The investigator added that Ikechukwu-Ayoh corroborated both the $400,000 and a separate $200,000 delivery to Emefiele.
Further testimony alleged that the source of the funds, CBN contractor Victor Oyedua, confirmed giving both sums to Ikechukwu-Ayoh, citing pressure to “settle management” to fast-track pending contract payments.
Defence Battles Admissibility
The defence team, led by Olalekan Ojo (SAN) and Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), fiercely contested the admissibility of the evidence. However, their objections were repeatedly overruled by Justice Oshodi, who admitted:
The crucial WhatsApp conversation (Exhibit “G”).
Several mobile phones, including witness John Adetola’s MI10T device (Exhibit “I”).
Additional documents from the CBN (Exhibit “H”), which the defence argued were uncertified photocopies.
The dramatic turn comes just days after Emefiele’s counsel accused the EFCC of deliberately obstructing a previous court order to allow a joint forensic examination of one of the disputed mobile devices—an accusation the prosecution countered by citing concerns over the defense expert’s qualifications and the potential for data alteration.
The court has now adjourned the matter to November 21 for a status report on a forensic inspection and set December 2 for a trial-within-trial to determine the admissibility of contested statements made by the second defendant, ensuring the legal battle over the evidence remains fierce.
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