Court Orders Investigation Into Ali Bello Case
A Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services to investigate alleged ‘evidence tampering’ in the ongoing ‘N10bn fraud’ trial involving Ali Bello, the Chief of Staff to Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo.
The order followed troubling claims linked to materials already admitted before the court.
The directive came from Justice James Omotosho on Thursday after he disclosed that the court registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, admitted to deleting WhatsApp messages from a mobile phone tendered as exhibits in the case.
The phone had been officially submitted as part of the prosecution’s evidence.
According to the judge, the registrar told the court that the deletion was carried out after Daudu Sulaiman, the second defendant, approached him with a request to remove messages stored on the device.
The registrar reportedly said the messages were erased using a specific code.
Justice Omotosho described the development as serious and ordered security agencies to fully probe the actions of both the registrar and the defendant, as the trial continues amid growing scrutiny over the handling of evidence in the case.
