Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, on Tuesday, adjourned ruling on an application filed by the embattled former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, seeking a forensic examination of WhatsApp messages admitted in evidence in his ongoing trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emefiele, through his counsel, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, had prayed the court for leave to engage a forensic expert to examine both the mobile phone described as an \u201ciPhone 2\u201d and the printed WhatsApp conversations extracted from it, which were tendered by the prosecution as evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy Lord, we are requesting permission to conduct a forensic analysis of the mobile device and the messages extracted therefrom in order to verify their authenticity and integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is a critical element of our defence,\u201d Ojo submitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, EFCC\u2019s prosecuting counsel, Chinenye Okezie, objected to the request, arguing that the defence had failed to meet the procedural requirements for such an application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe defence has not disclosed the name of the proposed forensic laboratory, nor the qualifications or experience of the personnel who would conduct the examination,\u201d Okezie told the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe defendant has not stated the duration of the forensic exercise,\u201d Okezie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She argued that, under the rules of evidence and practice, once an exhibit has been admitted by the court, it becomes the property of the court until the conclusion of the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy Lord, the documents and the device must remain in the form they were presented to the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe urge the court to direct the Director of the Forensic Department of the Commission to nominate a certified forensic laboratory if the application is to be granted,\u201d Okezie added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also stated that there must be a proper chain of custody to ensure the device isn\u2019t tampered with and it is returned to the court upon conclusion of the exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAny examination should be conducted in the presence of a qualified expert to be nominated by the prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is to prevent any tampering and to guarantee the integrity of the process,\u201d Okezie added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emefiele is standing trial alongside his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, on a 19-count charge bordering on alleged conspiracy, money laundering, and fraud amounting to $4.5 bn and N2.8 bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The charges were brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After listening to the arguments of both counsels, Justice Oshodi adjourned the ruling on the application until September 15, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, on Tuesday, adjourned ruling on an application filed by the embattled former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, seeking a forensic examination of WhatsApp messages admitted in evidence in his ongoing trial. Emefiele, through his counsel, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, had prayed the court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":47982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t