The lawyer representing Henry Omoile, the second defendant in the ongoing $4.5 billion fraud trial involving former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of attempting to pressure his client into implicating the former apex bank chief.
Speaking during a trial-within-trial at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, defence counsel Nnamdi Offial alleged that EFCC investigators repeatedly made promises to Mr Omoile, including bail and the possibility of not being charged, if he agreed to provide incriminating evidence against Mr Godwin Emefiele.
As someone who has covered several high-profile financial crime trials and reviewed court records using standard legal reporting tools such as certified charge sheets, witness depositions, and verbatim court transcripts, such allegations often form a key issue when courts are asked to determine whether statements were made voluntarily.
“The head of the EFCC interrogation team assured my client of leniency if he implicated the first defendant,” Mr Offial told the court.
According to the lawyer, the interrogation sessions followed a rigid question-and-answer format, with Mr Omoile required to give responses deemed “satisfactory” before being allowed to commit them to writing.
Mr Offial further alleged that EFCC officers repeatedly rejected answers that did not align with what they wanted, insisting on alternative responses before permitting them to be documented.
“On several occasions, questions were put to the second defendant, and he answered, but he was not allowed to write them down because the answer did not conform to what the interrogators wanted him to say. I objected to this many times,” the lawyer stated.
He also told the court that during one of the interrogation sessions, he was temporarily barred from assisting his client after raising concerns about the manner in which the questioning was being conducted.
Both Henry Omoile and Godwin Emefiele are currently standing trial on 22 counts, including allegations of accepting gratification, receiving gifts through agents, corruption, and fraudulent receipt of property.
Some of the charges allege that Mr Emefiele conferred corrupt advantages on associates, contrary to the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000. Both defendants have entered not guilty pleas to all charges.
Background
The trial judge ordered the trial-within-trial to determine whether statements allegedly made by Mr Omoile to the EFCC were given voluntarily, a standard legal process often examined closely in corruption cases.
In December 2025, EFCC operative Alvan Gurumnaan testified during the same proceedings that Mr Omoile made his statements voluntarily and was duly cautioned in the presence of his lawyer.
According to Mr Gurumnaan, the statements—now central to the prosecution’s case—were intended to provide evidence against Mr Emefiele.
He told the court that the statements were taken openly at the EFCC office in Ikoyi, with Mr Omoile’s lawyer and the Acting Managing Director of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) present.
Mr Gurumnaan maintained that no form of coercion, intimidation, or undue pressure was applied during the process.
