Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja has withdrawn from the N10.27 billion alleged money laundering case involving Ali Bello, nephew of former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, following concerns over the alleged alteration of evidence admitted before the court.
According to Vanguard, the judge announced his recusal on Thursday after noting that an investigation into the alleged tampering was still unresolved about seven months after the issue emerged. He said the disputed evidence was crucial to determining whether Bello and his co-defendant, Dauda Sulaiman, had a case to answer, creating the possibility of perceptions of bias.
The development came as the defendants were scheduled to adopt their no-case submissions after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) closed its case on June 2 with 17 witnesses. Bello and Sulaiman had argued that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case requiring them to enter a defence.
The disputed evidence relates to Exhibits N and O, which contain information extracted from a mobile phone, including WhatsApp conversations. The court had earlier ordered the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force to investigate allegations that the court registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, and Sulaiman were involved in tampering with the exhibits.
During earlier proceedings, the registrar allegedly admitted that Sulaiman approached him to delete WhatsApp messages from the exhibits, offering to provide him with accommodation in return. An EFCC investigator subsequently confirmed that several conversations covering the period between 2020 and 2022 were missing from the evidence. The prosecution has consequently sought the revocation of Sulaiman’s bail and a forensic examination of Exhibit N.
Justice Omotosho, who had played the registrar’s recorded statement in open court, said the outstanding investigation created circumstances in which any ruling on the no-case submissions could attract allegations of partiality. He therefore returned the case file to the Chief Judge for reassignment, while the underlying EFCC charge alleges that Bello and Sulaiman diverted N10,270,556,800 from the Kogi State treasury through a Bureau de Change operator for their personal benefit.
