Alleged N3bn fraud: How Suswam pressured me to change my statement, says witness

A prosecution witness, Mr. Abubakar Umar, in the ongoing trial of a former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, explained to the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, how he was made to give contradictory evidence on May 5, 2016 due to pressure from the ex-governor, his associates and his lawyer, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN).Daudu is a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association.The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is prosecuting Suswam and the then Commissioner of Finance in his administration, Mr. Omodachi Okolobia, on money laundering charges involving alleged diversion of total sum of N3,111,008,018.51 said to have been stolen from the proceeds of the sale of shares owned by the state government.The anti-corruption agency had fielded Umar, a bureau de change operator, as its fourth prosecution witness.The prosecution alleged that Umar was the one who helped Suswam to convert the sum of N3.1bn proceeds of the alleged crime to $15.8m.Umar,   owner of  a bureau de change firm, Fanffash Resources, had in his testimony of May 5, 2016, narrated how Suswam, while serving as the Benue State Governor, allegedly instructed a transfer of a cumulative sum of N3.1bn into his company’s account between August and October 2014.He said Suswam had instructed that the money be converted to US dollars.The witness confirmed that the sum of N3.1bn was transferred to his firm’s account in six tranches and converted to dollars at the exchange rate of N197 to a dollar with the cumulative sum of $15.8m allegedly handed over to the former governor.But along the line while still being led in evidence-in-chief on May 5, 2016, the witness’ testimony took a sudden twist when he said he took the total of $15.8m equivalent of the N3.1bn to the Government House in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.This was contrary to Umar’s claim in his previous statement that he took the dollars equivalent of the N3.1bn to Suswam’s residence in Maitama, Abuja where he claimed to have handed over the money to the former governor.Following the sudden contradiction, the EFCC invited Umar for interrogation on August 12, 2016, when he allegedly made a statement narrating how Suswam and his associates had been mounting pressure on him to change his previous statement made in court.The EFCC, through Jacobs on November 22, 2017, had declared Umar a hostile witness.The court presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, upon the application by the EFCC, pronounced in his ruling delivered on December 11, 2017, that Umar was a hostile witness to the prosecution.Umar’s statement which he made to the EFCC on August 12, 2016 was read in the open court on Wednesday.He confirmed that the statement was made by him but penned down on his behalf by his “brother-in-law,” Yakubu Idris.Umar said in the statement that, shortly after he began testifying in the case, he started receiving calls from Suswam and his associates offering money for him to change the previous written statement he made to the EFCC.He said he received a phone call from Suswam before he testified on May 5, 2016, when the contradiction surfaced in his evidence.The witness said,  Suswam, during the phone conversation, expressed concerns about the statement earlier made to the EFCC and  asked him to meet with Daudu.He said he eventually visited Daudu’s office in Jabi, Abuja, where he met with the former NBA President.Umar stated in the statement that his oral evidence in which he claimed to have taken the sum of $15.8m to the Government House in Makurdi was wrong.He said the truth was that he took the money to Suswam’s residence and handed it over to the former governor.The unedited statement of the witness as read in court on Wednesday stated in part, “My last day in court (in) the statement evidence I give to court was not the right statement in Gabriel Suswam case of N3.1bn for the purchase of dollars. I give him in his house in Maitama, Abuja.“I give a wrong statement in court due to pressure on me from people around Suswam.“I have been receiving calls, always telling that they will offer me some money (before the case in court).“I started testifying, Suswam said I should go and see his lawyer, J.B. Daudu.“I went to see him in his office in Jabi and he ask me why is my statement like this in EFCC.“I said he is aware of all my statement.“And the first statement I give in EFCC is the truth and nothing but the truth.“Now I am ready to tell the truth in the court.“And the people that normally calling me I don’t have their phone numbers.“J.B. Daudu have never called me on phone and I don’t have his number.”Fielding questions from Jacobs on Wednesday, Umar confirmed handing the sum of $15.8m to Suswam in Maitama and not at the Government House in Makurdi.He said on Wednesday that he had never visited Makurdi.Umar confirmed that the statement he made on May 5, 2016 that he took the $15.8m to Makurdi was not true.Umar said, “I took the money to former Governor of Benue State in Government  House in Abuja.“I have never been to Makurdi, Benue State.”On why he described Suswam’s residence in Abuja as Government House, Umar said, he considered any house in which the governor lived as “Government House.”His statements made to the EFCC on August 31, October 19, 21 and 29, 2015, were tendered by the prosecution and admitted by the court as exhibits.But Suswam’s lawyer, Daudu, and the second defendant’s counsel, Mr. F. Onoja, objected when Jacobs attempted to tender the August 12, 2017 statement in which Umar narrated how he was pressured by the defence to contradict his previous statement to the EFCC.He described the statement as “a trash” and inadmissible under the Evidence Act.Daudu said he had predicted on May 5, 2016, when the prosecution sought an adjournment after the contradiction in Umar’s testimony arose, that the EFCC was likely to subject him to torture in order to extract favourable statement from him.Daudu said, “I predicted this situation. On that day, we did say that we were apprehensive and that the case should go on that day, but my lord in his wisdom granted an adjournment.“The statement being sought to be tendered was purportedly made on August 12, 2016 .”The defence lawyers claimed that Umar was not the maker of the statement but Idris (Umar’s brother-in-law) who penned down the statement.But Jacobs asked the court to dismiss the objection which he argued had no legal backing.Justice Mohammed fixed March 14 for ruling on the admissibility of the statement and continuation of trial.

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