The Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, on Monday, granted former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, permission to engage forensic experts to examine WhatsApp conversations and a mobile device marked “iPhone 2” tendered as evidence in his ongoing fraud trial.
Justice Rahman Oshodi gave the ruling after Emefiele’s lead counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), applied for leave to allow an independent forensic expert to verify the authenticity of the handset and the extracted WhatsApp chats already admitted as exhibits.
“The defence seeks the court’s leave to call a forensic expert to examine both the mobile device and printed conversations allegedly linked to the defendants,” Ojo told the court.
Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are facing 19 counts bordering on abuse of office, gratification, corruption, and fraudulent property transactions involving $4.5bn and ₦2.8bn, brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Opposing the application, EFCC counsel, Chineye Okezie, argued that the exhibits admitted during trial should remain strictly in the court’s custody until proceedings are concluded.
She also faulted the defence for failing to disclose the name of the forensic laboratory or qualifications of the experts to be engaged. Okezie urged the court to mandate that the EFCC’s Director of Forensic Department select the laboratory, with the exercise monitored by a prosecution-nominated representative to preserve the chain of custody.
He ordered that the inspection be conducted in the presence of representatives from all parties, with each side allowed to bring no more than one lawyer and one forensic expert. A court representative is also to supervise the exercise, which must take place between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on September 24 and 26, 2025.
The judge further directed that the chain of custody of Exhibit E (iPhone 2) must be preserved and that the device remain in the court’s custody at all times.
Justice Oshodi adjourned the matter to October 7 and 8, 2025, for continuation of trial, and October 9, 2025, for further hearing.