A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services to investigate the court’s Registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, over alleged tampering with exhibits in a N10 billion fraud trial.
The order was made by Justice J.K. Omotosho following disclosures involving the court’s Registrar and the second defendant, Daudu Sulaiman.
The judge said the investigation became necessary after the Registrar admitted that Sulaiman approached him to tamper with exhibits deposited before the court.
What the court said
According to Justice J.K. Omotosho, the court has a strict policy of transparency and zero tolerance for conduct capable of undermining judicial proceedings.
The alleged tampering relates to exhibits tendered in an ongoing N10 billion fraud case.
- The court heard that the exhibits, marked N and O, include a mobile phone containing WhatsApp chats tendered as evidence by the prosecution.
- “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. We have a policy of discovery and disclosure at the Federal High Court. We have zero tolerance for this kind of attitude.
- “The person involved is here, I will call him so that you will hear from the horse’s mouth,” the judge said.
- Justice Omotosho thereafter played the Registrar’s confessional recording in open court and directed him to explain what transpired between him and the second defendant.
Get up to speed
The Registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, told the court that the second defendant approached him while the exhibits were in court custody and asked him to delete certain WhatsApp messages contained in the phone.
According to Zubairu, Sulaiman asked what he wanted in return, and he told him he was facing accommodation challenges.
- “I was asked to delete certain information, some WhatsApp messages in the exhibits on the promise that I will be given a house,” Zubairu told the court.
When asked by the judge to specify which chats he deleted, the Registrar said he could not remember the exact messages but admitted that he opened two chats.
Justice Inyang Ekwo allowed prosecutors to ask the EFCC’s investigating officer, Muhammed Audu Abubakar, to verify whether key WhatsApp messages had been deleted.
Abubakar told the court that forensic checks showed several chats from 2020 to 2022 were missing, including messages allegedly referencing large cash movements, with gaps found in December 2020, January 2021, August 2021, and February 2022.30, 2021, and February 28, 2022, which investigators said referenced the transfer and receipt of large sums of money.
More details
Reacting to the findings, Director of Public Prosecution, Mr, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, urged the court to order a full investigation.
- “There is a very urgent, irresistible suspicion that Exhibit N, which contains crucial evidence, has been tampered with. We apply that your lordship grants an order revoking the bail of the defendant and orders a forensic investigation of Exhibit N,” the prosecutor said.
Defence counsel expressed shock at the development but urged the court to await the outcome of the forensic investigation before taking any further steps.
Justice Omotosho ordered the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services to investigate the alleged tampering and adjourned the matter to February 9, 2026, for continuation of the trial.
What you should know
The EFCC’s prosecution of Robert Orya underscores its ongoing focus on holding public officials accountable for crimes.
- Yesterday, ex-NEXIM Bank MD, Robert Orya, was convicted of N2.4 billion fraud by the Federal Capital Territory High Court. Justice F.E. Messiri found Orya guilty on all counts and sentenced him to 10 years per count, totaling 490 years, with the sentences set to run concurrently.
- A former chair of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund was also arraigned for allegedly converting and laundering about N1 billion.
- Corporate actors have faced similar action, as seen in the case of BFI Group Corporation and six others, who were arraigned for an alleged attempt to defraud the Central Bank of Nigeria of €100 million through a fake Certificate of Capital Importation.
