Court Defers Ruling On Admissibility Of Documents In Ex-Minister Ngige’s Alleged N2.2billion Fraud
Court Defers Ruling On Admissibility Of Documents In Ex-Minister Ngige’s Alleged N2.2billion Fraud
Justice M.A. Hassan adjourned the case to October 14 and November 11 and 12, 2026, for ruling on the disputed documents and continuation of the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness.
The Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja, has fixed October 14, 2026, to rule on the admissibility of documents tendered by the defence in the alleged N2.2billion fraud trial of a former Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.
Justice M.A. Hassan adjourned the case to October 14 and November 11 and 12, 2026, for ruling on the disputed documents and continuation of the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness.
Ngige is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an eight-count charge bordering on alleged abuse of office and fraudulent contract awards amounting to N2,261,722,535.84.
At Thursday’s proceedings, the Third Prosecution Witness (PW3), Onwusoro Maduka Iheamelam, was cross-examined by Ngige’s counsel, P.I.N. Ikwueto (SAN).
During the cross-examination, the witness requested to see documents referred to by the defence in order to refresh his memory, explaining that the events under consideration occurred in 2021 and 2022.
When defence counsel sought to tender the documents, prosecution counsel, Sylvanu Tahir (SAN), objected, arguing that the documents were not certified true copies.
Relying on Section 104 of the Evidence Act 2011, Tahir urged the court to reject the documents
“My lord, the basis of our objection with respect to the documents sought to be tendered is that they violently offend the provision of Section 104 of the Evidence Act 2011,” Tahir told the court.
The witness also told the court that he had only reviewed the documents shown to him by the defence.
Iheamelam further disclosed that he was a member of the panel that investigated the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund and submitted recommendations following its probe.
Under further cross-examination, Iheamelam stated that he was neither a member nor the Secretary of the Parastatals Tenders Board (PTB)
He also told the court that while there was no obvious external interference in the work of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) investigative panel, there “may have been some interferences behind the scene.”
The witness further confirmed that he was familiar with Zitacom Nigeria Limited and Shale Atlantic Intercontinental Services Limited, adding that both companies were awarded contracts by the NSITF.
Following arguments over the admissibility of the defence documents, Justice Hassan adjourned the matter to October 14 and November 11 and 12, 2026, for ruling on the objection and continuation of the trial.
