A day after he told a Federal High Court in Abuja that he was pressured to give testimony in favour of former Benue Governor, Senator Gabriel Suswam, a Bureau de Change operator and fourth prosecution witness, PW4, in the ongoing trial of the sitting Senator, Abubakar Umar, has gone a step further on Tuesday to say he and his family were threatened by persons he did not name, except they were from “Suswam’s side”.
He told Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court, Abuja, that some persons from the side of Suswam advised him to lie while testifying before Justice A.R. Mohammed of a Federal High Court to protect himself and family.
Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was previously prosecuting Suswam, and his former Commissioner of Finance, Okolobia Okpanach before Justice Mohammed for allegedly diverting proceeds from the sale of shares owned by the Benue State government.
In the course of the trial, Umar, while being examined by counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, had began to give contradictory evidence different from what he had stated in his statement, and testimonies he had made earlier in court.
Umar had previously told Justice Mohammed that he handed over $15.8 million to Suswam at his residence in Maitama, Abuja, but later changed his testimony that he only took the money to the Government House in Benue, and that he never knew if the money was given to Suswam. The action had prompted Jacobs to inform the court of his intention to declare him a “hostile witness”.
However, Justice Mohammed was to later withdraw from the case following which the case was transferred to Justice Abang.
At the resumed hearing, Tuesday, Umar, who had at the sitting on February 3, 2020 told the court that he was pressured to change his statement in court, further stressed that “Suswam’s people” literally threatened him, thus making his scared.
Under cross-examination by counsel for the defence, Chinelo Ogbozor, he insisted that: “Like I said, before Justice Mohammed, I took the dollars after it was converted, to Government House, but I did not mention Benue”.
While further cross-examining him, Ogbozor, reminded him that he was declared by the prosecution as a “hostile witness” while the trial was at the courtroom of Justice Mohammed.
Responding, Umar said: “On that day, [before] I entered the witness stand, people from Gabriel Suswam’s side disturbed me with calls, they said I have a family, if I say the truth, I know I have a family. I felt scared for my family and that’s why I said I took the money to Government House”.
When asked if he lied before Justice Mohammed, the witness insisted that he was under pressure, and “I just said it to get relief before Justice Mohammed that I took money to Government House”.
He was further queried on his previous testimony whether it was true or not, but he insisted that “it was Suswam’s people that said I should say I took the money to Government House”.
The witness also told the court that he gave his account number to a fair lady in Suswam’s residence, but he doesn’t know her or her name. He however, added that every time a deposit was made into his account, she usually called him, but that he doesn’t know the phone number.
He was asked how much he was given to change his statement.
In response, he said no one gave him money and that he never knew them.
“I informed Suswam that his people were calling me,” he said, adding that, “It was Suswam’s people that made me to lie before Justice Mohammed”.
The case has been adjourned to February 5, 2020 for further cross-examination and continuation of trial.