Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja, has ordered the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate allegations that court exhibits were tampered with in the ongoing ₦10 billion fraud trial involving Daudu Sulaiman, a nephew of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
The order followed a dramatic disclosure in open court on Thursday, February 5, 2026, that the court’s registrar, Nasiru Onimisi Zubairu, allegedly connived with Sulaiman to delete incriminating WhatsApp messages from a mobile phone admitted as evidence and kept in the court’s custody as Exhibits N and O.
Justice Omotosho revealed that the registrar had earlier confessed to him that Sulaiman approached him with a request to erase specific messages from the phone, providing a code to carry out the deletion. The judge said he was compelled to disclose the matter in line with the Federal High Court’s policy of transparency and zero tolerance for misconduct.
“We have a policy of discovery and disclosure at the Federal High Court. We have zero tolerance for this kind of attitude,” the judge said, before inviting the registrar to personally explain what happened.
Testifying in court, Zubairu admitted that Sulaiman offered to provide him with a house if he deleted certain WhatsApp messages from the exhibits. He said the defendant approached him after he mentioned having accommodation challenges.
“I was asked to delete some certain information, some WhatsApp messages in the exhibits on the promise that I will be given a house,” the registrar told the court, adding that he could not remember the exact messages deleted but confirmed he opened two chats.
Following the revelation, the court granted the prosecution, led by Director of Public Prosecution Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), permission to call the EFCC investigating officer, Muhammed Audu Abubakar, to verify whether the evidence had been altered.
Abubakar testified that several WhatsApp messages he had seen during the investigation were no longer present on the phone. He identified multiple missing chats dated between December 2020 and February 2022, some of which allegedly referenced the movement of large sums of money, including messages mentioning ₦100 million, ₦93 million, ₦60 million and ₦30 million.
“There is nothing here on the phone, it has been deleted,” Abubakar repeatedly told the court while pointing out gaps in the message history.
Reacting, Oyedepo urged the court to order an urgent forensic investigation, arguing that there was “an irresistible suspicion” that crucial evidence had been tampered with. He also asked the court to consider revoking the defendant’s bail.
The defence expressed shock at the development but appealed to the court to await the outcome of a forensic investigation before taking further action.
In his ruling, Justice Omotosho ordered the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS to immediately investigate the alleged tampering and adjourned the matter to February 9, 2026, for continuation of the trial.