A prosecution witness, Alvan Gurumnaan, on Tuesday told the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, that the extra-judicial statements made by Henry Omoile, co-defendant in the alleged $4.5 billion fraud case involving former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, were not obtained under duress.
Gurumnaan, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), testified before Justice Rahman Oshodi during a trial-within-trial ordered to determine the voluntariness of Omoile’s statements.
Emefiele is currently facing a 19-count charge bordering on receiving gratification and making corrupt demands during his tenure as CBN Governor. His co-defendant, Omoile, faces a three-count charge relating to unlawful acceptance of gifts as an agent. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
At the previous sitting on October 9, 2025, prosecution counsel Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) sought to tender Omoile’s statements as evidence, but defence counsel Kotoye Adeyinka (SAN) objected, insisting that the statements were involuntary. This prompted the court to order a trial-within-trial.
Testifying at the resumed hearing on December 2, 2025, Gurumnaan told the court that EFCC operatives are trained professionals who do not obtain statements through coercion, threat, or intimidation.
“The second defendant did not make any statement under duress. Our officers do not force statements through violence,” he said. “It is the responsibility of the defendant to prove duress where such an allegation is made.”
He explained that Omoile made his statements in the EFCC conference room on the first floor of Block A at the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 in Ikoyi—an open and spacious environment used by the Special Operations Team.
According to him, Omoile appeared at the EFCC office on February 26, 2024, in the company of the acting Managing Director of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and his lawyer, E. N. Offiong.
“The statements were taken openly. There is no way we could have done that under threat,” he maintained.
The court subsequently admitted four statements—three taken on February 26, 2024, and one on February 27, 2024—as Exhibits One to Four.
Gurumnaan also confirmed that Omoile was in EFCC custody when the statements were taken, adding that standard procedure requires operatives to caution suspects before statement-taking. He said the cautionary words were administered by a colleague, Azeez Ajigbotosho.
“The statements were signed by the second defendant. He wrote, ‘I am making this statement in the presence of my lawyer, Offiong,’” the witness told the court, noting that Offiong was present on both days. He further tendered the EFCC visitors’ register as evidence.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Olalekan Ojo (SAN) and Kotoye Adeyinka (SAN), Gurumnaan admitted that there was no video recording of the statement-taking process, explaining that “certain circumstances sometimes make video recordings impossible.”
Justice Oshodi adjourned the continuation of the trial-within-trial to Thursday, January 15, and Friday, January 16, 2026.
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