Ali Bello, a nephew of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has lost a no-case submission at the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja, as Justice James Omotosho on Wednesday, affirmed the voluntariness of the extra-judicial statements of Ali Bello and Dauda Sulaiman.
Bello and Sulaiman are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 16-count amended charge bordering on alleged misappropriation and money laundering to the tune of ₦10,270,556,800.00.
EFCC’s Head of Media & Publicity, Dele Oyewale, who disclosed the development in a statement, explained that the trial-within-trial was conducted to ascertain the voluntariness or otherwise of the extra-judicial statements made by the defendants during investigation.
He said the defendants had objected to the prosecution’s move to tender the eight statements, claiming that they were put under duress and threatened before making them.
However, he said in his ruling on Wednesday, Justice Omotosho held that it was evident that the defendants had their counsel present when the statements were taken, noting that the investigative team allowed the defendants’ counsel to be present and to endorse the statements as confessional and voluntary.
“It is clear that the defendants had their counsel present during the taking of both statements, and the investigative team allowed the counsel to the defendants to be present and even endorsed some of the statements that they were confessional and were obtained voluntarily in his presence.
That is therefore in compliance with the provisions of Section 15(4) and 17(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015,” he said.
“Consequently, the statements of the defendants are admissible in evidence, as they were made voluntarily”, he added.
Oyewale, said the judge subsequently admitted statements of the first defendant, earlier marked as Exhibits TWA–TWA5 during the trial-within-trial, as Exhibits R2–R5 in the main trial.
He added that the judge also admitted the statements of the second defendant, marked as Exhibits TWB and TWB1, as Exhibits S and SW1 in the main trial.
The anti-graft’s Spokesperson said the judge thereafter adjourned the matter till April 21 and 24, 2026, for the prosecution to close its case.
