Ademola kept several millions in bags at home, witness tells court

A witness told the Court on Tuesday that Justice Adeniyi Ademola stashed hundreds of millions of naira and other foreign currencies in different bags at his home.

This was disclosed by a second witness, Ike Ihuoha, at the resumed trail of the Federal High Court judge at the Federal High Court Abuja.

Ihuoha, an officer of the Department of State Services (DSS), was the person that led the DSS team which raided the official residence of Justice Ademola on October 7, 2016.

His is the second prosecution witness in the continuing joint trial of Justice Ademola; his wife, Olabowale and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Joe Agi, who are being prosecuted by the Federal Government on 16-counts charge bordering on receiving of gratifications before Justice Jude Okeke.

Led in evidence by the lead prosecution counsel, Mr. Segun Jegede, Ihuoha recounted how he led the eight-man team that searched Justice Ademola’s house and their findings.

According to him, his team was directed to search the judge’s residence following petitions and information regarding incriminating items in the judge’s possession. His team he said had an appropriately endorsed search warrant.

He however said that his team had no other option but break some doors in the judges home due to the uncooperative attitude of the judge.

He said, “When my team arrived the judge’s house, we could not gain entry because the security guards said only the judge’s cook identified as Ken, had the keys. Ken eventually came and told us the judge was out of town. We then asked him to call the judge on his phone. We did so because we had reasons to believe that the judge was, in fact, at home.

“When we entered the premises, we called on Ken to call the judge with his mobile phone. Ken called the judge severally but he refused to pick. Much later, the judge sent a text message that he was not in town. After repeated calls, he switched off his phone. At that point, we had no option but to force open the main door. When we entered, we saw Justice Ademola in the master’s bedroom upstairs in his night wears. That was few minutes after 12 midnight.”

The witness said his team did not start searching the house until Agi arrived, just to grant the judge’s request.

“As we continued our search on the ground floor, we encountered a locked bedroom. We requested the keys, but we were not given. We then had no option but to force open the door. Inside the bedroom, we saw a locked wardrobe which we also had to force open when the keys were not made available to us.

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“Inside the wardrobe, we found a Ghana-must-go bag containing various N1, 000 denomination notes to the tune of N39.5million after counting it on the spot. We also found two black pump action rifles and 35 life cartridges of ammunition. We also found a silver-coloured flash drive.

“We found another locked room where we found the sum of N8.5million in N1, 000 denominations inside a black-and- white medium-sized bag which was locked up in a wardrobe. Also in the master’s bedroom, we saw in an open wardrobe, a black bag where we found the sum of N6million, 121,179 US dollars, 4,400 Euros, 80 pounds, 1,010 Indian Rupees,” the witness recounted.

Other items Ihuoha said his team found at the judges house include six ATM cards, eight cheque books, eight deposit slips for various banks, two firearm licences, one for Honourable Justice A.R. Muhammed, the other for Honourable Justice Adeniyi Ademola and two Apple ipads.

When cross-examined, Ihuoha confirmed that the licences for the rifles were renewable and that their issuance and renewal were the responsibilities of the police.

The witness also told the court that his investigation did not include interviewing Justice A.R. Muhammed to know the reason a gun licensed in his name was found in the residence of Justice Ademola.

Ihuoha further stated that he was unaware that ordering the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra from the DSS’ custody by Justice Ademola was the judge’s offence that prompted the search of his house.

He insisted that the operation was sequel to series of petitions, intelligence and information gathered, but refused to provide the sources of the information on the reason that they “are classified.”

The trial judge, Justice Okeke adjourned the matter till Wednesday for further trial.

 

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