Court Registrar Confesses: 'They Promised Me A House In Abuja'

Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court Abuja has recused himself from the N10 billion money laundering case against Ali Bello, Chief of Staff to Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State, after his own registrar admitted to tampering with a key exhibit.

Mr Nasir Zubairu Onimisi confessed on February 5 that he tampered with Exhibit N, a phone containing WhatsApp messages tied to the case, because Ali Bello and Dauda Sulaiman allegedly promised him a house in Abuja. The judge said Onimisi came to his house at 6:30 a.m. to confess, and Justice Omotosho played the recording openly in court that same morning.

The EFCC closed its case after 17 witnesses. Bello and Sulaiman filed a no-case submission. Seven months later, the DSS investigation report is sitting somewhere in the DPPF office and nobody has told the court what it says. Justice Omotosho has now stepped aside, saying he cannot preside over a matter where his own registrar is implicated.

"He stated that he had been promised a house in Abuja by the defendants and that this was the reason he tampered with the phone," Justice Omotosho said.

A court registrar, the man who handles the exhibits, was allegedly bought with a house. If that is not a direct attack on the integrity of the judiciary, what is? And who is going to answer for the seven months of silence from the DPPF?