GEJ's aide, Dudafa says EFCC obtained his confessional statement under duress

dimeji akinloye

November 21, 2016 9:25 PM

According to Dufafa's lawyer, the EFCC made all sorts of promises to induce his client to admit to the allegations against him.

A former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to ex-President

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Dudafa, alongside a banker, Joseph Iwuejo, are on trial on 23 counts before Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court in Lagos.

During proceedings on Monday, November 21, both accused disowned their extrajudicial statement made to the EFCC, claiming it was obtained under duress.

Dudafa’s lawyer, Mr. Gboyega Oyewole, resisted the move by the EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, to tender Dudafa’s statement, as an exhibit against his client.

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He equally resisted Oyedepo’s move to tender an asset declaration form filed by Dudafa on April 27, 2016 in the EFCC custody as an exhibit against Dudafa.

Oyewole said: "We are opposed to the bid to have this (asset declaration form) admitted as evidence. Our basis is that it was not voluntarily made by the first defendant. It was obtained under extreme duress; all sorts of promises were made to induce him (Dudafa) to admit all this.

My Lord, we are contesting the voluntariness of this document."

But Oyedepo argued that an asset declaration form filled by a suspect was not categorised under sections 28 and 29 of the Evidence Act as an extrajudicial statement.

"The document sought to be tendered is not a statement suggesting that Mr. Dudafa had committed an offence. It is the declaration of his assets and, My Lord, that is in compliance with Section 27 of the EFCC Act, which imposes an obligation on a suspect under investigation to declare his assets and that cannot be construed to mean giving a statement," Oyedepo said.

Oyewole, however, maintained that for all intent and purposes, the asset declaration form filled by his client while in the custody of the Commission and days after his arrest is qualified as an extrajudicial statement.

dimeji akinloye