A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has heard fresh testimony in the ongoing trial-within-trial involving six individuals accused of conspiring to overthrow the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
During proceedings before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on Tuesday, a prosecution witness told the court that all confessional statements obtained from the defendants were made willingly and without any form of coercion.
The witness, a serving officer with the Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police, appeared as part of the Federal Government’s effort to counter claims by defence lawyers that the suspects were forced into making extra-judicial statements.
The dispute arose after the prosecution attempted to tender video recordings of the interrogations as evidence. Defence counsel objected, insisting the statements were extracted under pressure, prompting the court to order a trial-within-trial to determine their admissibility.
Representing the Federal Government, Rotimi Oyedepo informed the court that the prosecution had lined up three witnesses for the exercise.
The Testimony
While testifying, the military police officer maintained that the defendants remained calm throughout questioning and were properly informed of their constitutional rights before making any statements.
According to him, investigators adhered strictly to the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, as well as established investigative procedures.
The prosecution later submitted several exhibits before the court, including written statements allegedly made by the defendants, a flash drive, and an external hard drive containing video footage of the interrogations. The materials were admitted after the defence raised no objections during the proceedings.
The witness further stated that none of the suspects was denied legal representation and that each of them was informed of the right to remain silent during interrogation.
Speaking specifically about the first defendant, retired Major-General Mohammed Gana, the witness described him as composed throughout the interview sessions. He added that Gana was cautioned that any statement he made could be used against him in court.
According to the officer, the video recordings showed no evidence of threats, intimidation, inducement, or physical pressure during the process.
Responding to questions regarding differences between spoken interviews and written statements, the witness argued that written records are not always exact word-for-word reproductions of oral conversations.
“Human beings are not computers,” he remarked during testimony.
Voluntary Statement
He also gave similar evidence concerning the second defendant, retired naval captain Erasmus Victor, insisting that his statement was likewise made voluntarily.
On the sixth defendant, an Islamic cleric, the witness disclosed that investigators provided an interpreter because the suspect was not fluent in English.
He explained that the suspect’s responses were translated between Hausa and English and later read back to him for confirmation before documentation.
However, under cross-examination, the witness admitted that he was not part of the special investigative panel handling the matter full-time and only participated occasionally.
He also acknowledged that the video recordings presented in court covered only statements taken by the military police and excluded those allegedly obtained by the investigative panel.
Additionally, the witness confirmed that none of the statements carried signatures or endorsements from lawyers, and that no legal practitioners, civil society observers, or justices of the peace were present during the recordings.
Despite this, he insisted that all suspects were informed of their entitlement to legal representation but chose not to request lawyers during questioning.
Following the testimony, Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the case to May 13 for continuation of the trial-within-trial.
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The six defendants are currently being prosecuted by the Federal Government through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation over allegations of plotting to destabilise and overthrow the Tinubu-led government.