Kwara State High Court 7, Ilorin, presided over by Justice Mahmud Gafar, has ordered that a former Chairman of the Governing Council of Kwara State Polytechnic, Dr. Saadu Ayinla Alanamu be remanded in prison custody.
Dr. Alanamu was charged before the Hon. Justice by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) along with the Chief Executive Director of Namylas Nig. Ltd., Salman Sulaiman, for allegedly collecting bribe from a contractor.
In the course of trial the defence counsel alleged that the accused was “forced, harassed, intimidated and coerced” into making his statement to the Commission’s investigators and therefore, the statement should not be admitted in evidence.
Consequently, Justice Gafar ordered a trial-within-trial, which commenced the same day. This, he said was for the court to determine whether the statement was made voluntarily or not.
While delivering his ruling on the trial-within-trial, Justice Gafar overruled the objection of the defence and admitted the 1st defendant’s confessional statement in evidence. The trial judge also went on to revoke the bail of Dr. Alanamu for abuse of bail conditions.