On Tuesday, Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court reserved the ruling in a trial-within-trial filed by Benjamin Dikki, former director-general of the Bureau for Public Enterprises.

Mr Dikki is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside his company, Kebna Studio and Communications Limited, on allegations of receipt of a N1 billion bribe and abuse of office.

Mr Dikki was alleged to have received N1 billion bribe from Bestworth Insurance Brokers for his role in facilitating the approval of outstanding insurance premiums and claims of deceased and incapacitated staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

EFCC stated that the offence was contrary to Section 17(1)(a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under the same act, between January and February 2015 when he served as BPE director-general.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the allegations and stated that the confessional statement EFCC presented was not voluntarily made.

The court, therefore, ordered a trial within trial to ascertain the voluntariness of the statement and adoption of addresses fixed for today.

Mr Halilu, after listening to the submissions of all the counsel in the matter, reserved the ruling to a date that would be communicated to the parties.

In his argument, Mr Dikki ‘s counsel, Abdul Mohammed, told the court that section 17 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) provides that a suspect should give a statement freely without force.

He said the defendant‘s statement was taken in 2016 while ACJA was enacted in 2015, and there is no way the statement would be admitted because it was obtained by force.

According to him, everything about how the statement was obtained pointed to intimidation.

“The defendant said he was psychologically tortured. The EFCC has CCTV covering the entire premises but failed to provide the clips on how the statement was taken to the court,” stated Mr Mohammed.

Therefore, he urged the court to reject the statement and proceed with the trial.

Sherif Mohammed, counsel for the second defendant, aligned with the learned Silk and prayed the court to declare the statement unreliable.

The prosecution counsel, Chris Mshellia, asked the court to discountance the defendant’s arguments and admit the confessional statement. According to him, what governs the admissibility of a confessional statement is the Evidence Act and not the ACJA.

He urged the court to disregard the arguments of the defendant’s counsel and admit the statement in evidence.

Mr Dikki had earlier, on November 14, 2023, told the court that he was informed on August 29, 2016, by an EFCC operative from Zuru that the commission had been looking for him and had gone to arrest his wife and son.

He said this surprised him as he did not receive any invitations from the anti-graft agency, and he told the operative that he would appear before EFCC on September 1, 2016.

According to him, on arrival at the commission, he was taken by the operative who spoke with him on the phone to the team leader’s office, identified as Bashir, where he was till 2:00 p.m. when he was invited to the team leader’s office.

“Bashir told me that they had investigated the matter, and there was nothing I could say other than to write a statement that I would refund the N1 billion paid into the account of Kebna Studio.

“I told him I could not make such a commitment, and he said I was wasting their time and that the policy of the government was recovery. He said I must make a statement that Kebna Studio was going to refund the money,” he told the court.

According to him, despite saying he could not commit, the EFCC operatives were insistent that he should commit, and he was taken to the cell.

He said he told them he was being stubborn as others had refunded the government. He added that he was detained in the cell from 6:00 p.m. to 7:40 p.m. when he was brought and assured of being released only if he committed.

Mr Dikki said he was neither with his lawyer, Ali Suberu, when forced to write his statements, nor was he advised to get any lawyer before writing the statements.

“On Sunday, September 4, 2016, Bashir came into the cell and told me that I was the one detaining myself because I was blowing long grammar, that once I committed to a refund, I would be released,” said Mr Dikki.

Mr Dikki said for his freedom, he made arrangements for a N50 million payment to be made to EFCC, adding that the money came late on Monday, September 5, 2016, and was released the following day.

Under cross-examination by Mr Mshellia, Mr Dikki told the court that the EFCC did not arrest him.

“I got to the EFCC office by myself and was interviewed by officers of the commission. I wrote down my statement after being cautioned. I had no option but to write my statement,” he said.

He said EFCC operatives tried to dictate what he should write in his statement.

Mr Dikki said though the operatives did not beat him, he was harassed and tortured psychologically. 

(NAN)