Court Directs Probe Into Evidence Tampering by Registrar and Defendant in N10bn Fraud Case

In the ongoing ₦10 billion fraud trial, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja, ordered the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services to look into allegations of tampering with important exhibits by the court registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, and the second defendant, Daudu Sulaiman, on Thursday.

The order came after the judge revealed that the registrar allegedly admitted that Sulaiman had asked him to remove important WhatsApp communications from a phone that was turned in to the court as Exhibits N and O.

According to reports, the registrar was asked to describe what happened between him and the second defendant after Justice Omotosho played his confession in front of the court.

“I have to disclose it because that is what the Chief Judge told us, to ensure we disclose such a thing as early as possible,” the judge remarked in front of the court. At the Federal High Court, we have a discovery and disclosure policy. This kind of attitude is not tolerated at all. I’ll call the person in question so you can hear directly from the source.

Sulaiman allegedly approached Zubairu and offered to help him with his lodging issues in exchange for removing some material from the exhibits, Zubairu told the court.

He stated, “I was asked to remove some specific information, some WhatsApp messages in the exhibits on the promise that I will be given a house.”

EFCC Verifies Chat Deletion
Additionally, the judge authorized the prosecution’s attorney, Director of Public Prosecution Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), to instruct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) investigating officer, Muhammad Audu Abubakar, to confirm whether the conversations had been erased.

Abubakar informed the court that data from Exhibits N and O, comprising conversations from 2020 to 2022, had been deleted.

The registrar acknowledged accessing two discussions but claimed he did not recall which individual chats he erased.

He said in court, “I can’t remember, but I opened only two chats.”

Information About Missing Messages
The investigating officer verified during the hearings that a number of messages purportedly connected to financial transactions were missing.

“There was no chat on 23 December, it stopped on December 22 and continued on 29 December, 2020,” he added, informing the court that there were no conversations between December 3 and December 28, 2020.

Subsequent investigations turned up more deleted texts, including ones that purportedly mentioned financial transactions, including “Hudu is bringing ₦100 million,” “₦60 million is on transit,” and “Mr. Ododo has collected ₦50 million and will be coming to Abuja tomorrow.”

It was also determined that references dated February 28, 2022, and further comments such as “Hudu is on his way, coming with 93m, 7m for TJ,” were missing.

Abubakar testified in court that he came across the conversations while conducting the investigation prior to their purported deletion.

In response to the development, Oyedepo stated that there was a high suspicion of tampering and urged the court to conduct an expedited investigation and forensic testing of the exhibits.

“There is an urgent, irresistible suspicion that exhibit N, which contains important evidence, has been tempered with. This issue should be investigated and the report brought to your lordship.” We request that the Lordship issue an order revoking the defendant’s bail and directing a forensic examination of exhibit N,” he stated.

Although shocked by the accusations, the defendant’s attorney asked the court to wait for the results of the investigations.

The defense attorney stated, “I will urge my lord to await the outcome of the investigation.”

In his decision, Justice Omotosho ordered the DSS and the Police to look into the alleged tampering and report back to the court.

The trial was postponed until February 9, 2026.