A prosecution witness, Mohammed Dauda, on Wednesday told the court that he saw his father hand over some money to Shehu Sani, a former senator.
Dauda, who is the son to Sani’s accuser, was testifying in the alleged bribery charge instituted against Sani by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Sani is charged with two counts bordering on alleged bribery.
The matter is before Justice Inyang Ekwo.
While giving his testimony, Dauda, a son to Sani Dauda, chairman of ASD Motors, told the court that his father handed over money to Sani in his presence.
Dauda, answering a question under cross examination by defence counsel, Abdul Ibrahim (SAN), told the court that he was there when his father handed over the money to Sani.
Dauda also told the court that he was not aware of any case his father had with the EFCC.
While being led in evidence earlier by the prosecutor, Abba Mohammed, Dauda told the court that the former senator met his father in November 2019.
According to him, Sani told his father that the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the EFCC were rendering some help to him (his father) and that if a token of gratitude was given, it would be appreciated.
Speaking further, Dauda said, “Since the former senator collected money from my father, my father never heard from him again as he neither answered my father’s calls nor called back.”
The witness added that Sani contacted his father only after his father reported the matter to the EFCC.
“My father returned from Saudi Arabia and went to the EFCC and that day was the first time Sani called him and said if he knew he was around he would have returned his money,” Dauda said.
Testifying further, Dauda told the court that following the instructions of the EFCC, he always set a recorder each time Sani met with his father from then on to record their conversation.
He added that the EFCC asked his father to hand over to it the money which Sani returned to him, which amounted to $25,000.
Fatima Umar, another witness and a digital forensic analyst with the commission, also gave evidence against Sani.
While giving her evidence, Umar said she extracted data from three phones, one belonging to Sani and the others belonging to the complainant.
She nevertheless added that Sani was not present when the data was being extracted, saying the request to extract data from the phones was accompanied by signed consent forms.
During the trial, the prosecutor also tendered some documents through Umar which were admitted and marked as Exhibits 1 to 24.
Justice Ekwo consequently adjourned the matter till July 9 for continuation of cross examination of the witness.
