Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, Abuja, on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, reserved ruling on the admissibility of the statement of the former Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, following a trial-within-trial.
Idris is facing prosecution 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 trial-within-trial was ordered by the court on November 22, 2022, as a result of an application by counsel to the first defendant, Chris Uche, SAN, who alleged that the statements made by his client to the EFCC were obtained through deception and inducement.
In adopting the defence’s final written address, the first defendant’s counsel held that the prosecution has not proven its case beyond reasonable doubt and urged the court to reject the prosecution’s documents and video evidence presented before the court.
In his response, prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, informed the court that the prosecution filed a written address, dated October 9, 2026, and adopted it and prayed the court to admit the statements.
He stated that the prosecution has fully discharged the burden of proving that the first defendant made his statement voluntarily, which was supported by three witnesses whose evidence was not contradicted during cross-examination.
“My lord, we filed a written address, dated and filed on October 9, 2026. We adopted the said written address and urge Your Lordship to admit the statements sought to be tendered. They are 14 different statements made on 13 different days.
“My lord, we have fully discharged the burden to show that the statement was made voluntarily. We called three witnesses who witnessed the taking and the writing of the statement, and their evidence was not contradicted under cross-examination. And we have shown prima facie that the statements were obtained voluntarily,” he said.
While regretting the slow wheel of justice on the matter, the prosecution counsel said, “We are taking a lot of time over this matter, and it is giving me serious concern because this is a 2022 case and we are still in PW1, and then Your Lordship gave us direction to file a written address in 21 days. Since June 2026, the first defendant did not file; more than three months before he filed, he did not even say anything about it.”
Justice Halilu deferred ruling on the admissibility of the defendant’s statement to a date which he said will be communicated to both parties.
