A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate alleged evidence tampering in the current N10 billion fraud trial involving Ali Bello, chief of staff to the governor of Kogi, Usman Ododo.
Bello, a nephew of the former governor of Kogi, Yahaya Bello, was charged with 10 counts bordering on alleged misappropriation and money laundering in 2022.
The presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, gave the order, adding that the court registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, admitted to erasing messages in a phone submitted as evidence.
Justice Omotosha stated that Zubairu disclosed that the second defendant in the case, Daudu Sulaiman, approached him to delete the messages.
The registrar’s confession was played in court, and Justice Omotosho ordered Zubairu to further disclose what happened between him and Sulaiman.
He said, “I was asked to delete some certain information, some WhatsApp messages in the exhibits, on the promise that I would be given a house.”
The judge asked him to indicate which specific chats were deleted, but the registrar claimed he could not remember.
A witness said chats between December 3 and 28, 2020, were missing from the phone.
More details later.