The failure by the former Accountant General of the Federation (AG-F), Ahmed Idris to call witness stalled Monday’s proceedings in his prosecution, along with three others, for alleged N109 billion fraud.
Idris was expected to open his defence on Monday in the trial-within-trial being conducted in the case to ascertain the voluntariness or otherwise of his extra-judicial statements.
The trial-within-trial was necessitated by Idris’ claim that he was among others, hoodwinked by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to admitting some of the allegations against him.
The prosecution has since closed its case in the trial-within-trial, during which it called witnesses, mostly officials of the EFCC, who interrogated Idris and took statements from him.
In their testimonies, the witnesses all denied Idris claim that he was hoodwinked into admitting some of the allegations against him and agreeing to cooperate with the investigators.
At the mention of the case on Monday, Idris’ lawyer, Kanayo Okafor said although the first defendant (Idris) was scheduled to open his defence in the trial-within-trial, it would be impossible for him to proceed because his witness was not available.
Okafor said his client had planned to call a lawyer, Ituen Odudu Abasi, who witnessed the recording of some of Idris’ statements, but that the proposed witness was berieved and could not make it to court.
He sought an adjornment, which was objected to by the prosecuting lawyer, Oluwaleke Atolagbe l, who argued that it was the law that a defendant should always act as his/her first witness in a trial-within-trial where he/she is to testify in the proceedings.
Atolagbe cited some authorities and urged the court to direct that the first defendant, who was present in court, to mount the witness box and testify as his first witness.
When asked by the judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu to respond to the issue raised by Atolagbe, Okafor said the defence team has not prepared the first defendant as a witness, as required.
He again, prayed the court to grant his request for adjournment to enable him prepare his witness, a request the judge granted and adjourned till March 11, 2025.
The EFCC is prosecuting Idris; his former Technical Assistant, Godfrey Olusegun Akindele; a director in the Office of the AG-F, Mohammed Kudu Usman; and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited (said to belong to Idris) on a 14-count charge bordering on stealing and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N109 billion.
The prosecution had commenced trial in the case, but at the point of tendering Idris’ statements, his lead lawyer, Chris Uche (SAN) objected to the admissibility of the statements, claiming that investigators hoodwinked his client to make the statements, which contained some admissions.
Uche insisted that the investigators promised his client that he would not be prosecuted, adding that the statements were not made by his client voluntarily, a development that informed the trial-within-trial.
While testifying for the prosecution in the trial-within-trial, one of the investigators, who interrogated the ex-AG-F, Mahmoud Tukur, denied Uche’s claim.
Tukur, the immediate past Head of Chairman Monitoring Unit (CMU) II of the EFCC, testified as the second prosecution’s witness in the trial-within-trial on March 20.
He said: “We did not promise him (Idris) anything.”
When the prosecuting lawyer, Atolagbe, asked if Tukur promised that Idris would not be prosecuted, he said: “I never did. And, as the head of the unit, I can answer authoritatively to that.
“The first defendant was a senior public servant. He knows that it is not within my capacity to make such promises because my duty is just to investigate and report my findings.
“In all the statements he wrote, he was cautioned and part of the cautionary words is that whatever he wrote might be used as evidence in court.”
Another EFCC operative who was part of the investigation, Hayatudeen Suleiman, while testifying as the prosecution’s first witness in the trial-within-trial, also denied that such a promise was ever made to Idris.
The ex-AG-F, in one of the 13 extra-judicial statements he made, said he initially thought he would not be prosecuted for the alleged N109 billion fraud for which he and three others are facing trial.
Idris said he cooperated with EFCC’s investigators by providing them with necessary information to help their probe in the belief that he would not be prosecuted.
In the statement, dated May 25, 2022, Idris said: “All along, I have cooperated with the EFCC officials and have volunteered information to demonstrate my commitment to make the investigation as easier and speedy.
“Any statement I have made before or I am making now are based on my firm assumption, belief and understanding that by being open and aligning myself with statements made by principal suspects, such statements will not be used against me and eventually lead to my trial or prosecution.
“In view of foregoing statements, I wish to accept the net figure of N13.2 billion I am confronted with, subject to the reservations expressed in this statement,” Idris said.
