The Economics and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has displayed the virtual presentation of a Compact Disc with a 51,933-page analysis of the iPhone being the property of Azeez Fashola, a popular Nigerian musician better known as Naira Marley.
The projection of the exhibits was done through EFCC’s second witness, a forensic analyst, Augustine Anosike, on Wednesday before the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Marley is facing an 11-count charge bordering on conspiracy, possession of counterfeit credit cards, and fraud.
The singer was first arraigned by the EFCC on May 20, 2019, on the said charges to which he pleaded not guilty.
The court had, accordingly, granted him bail in the sum of N2 million, with two sureties in like sum.
According to a court sitting on Tuesday, his trial was adjourned to Wednesday at the federal high court in Lagos.
On Wednesday, the EFCC projected the CD through Augustine Anosike, a forensic analyst who doubles as its second witness.
Anosike, following EFCC’s analysis of Marley’s iPhone, had narrated to the court how different texts and chats containing credit card details were exchanged between the defendant and another recipient identified as Yadd.
When the trial resumed, the witness reiterated portions of his testimonies from the previous sitting.
He indicated the visual spots of those testimonies on the screen of the projected CD, typically identifying what was described as “message trafficking” between the numbers “+447426343432” and “+447548061528”.
Anosike told the court that the CD contained 51,933 pages of the analysis conducted on the defendant’s device.
The expert also presented a forensic report form named “Exhibit A” and the iPhone dubbed “Exhibit D”.
Olalekan Ojo (SAN), the defense counsel, during cross-examination, attempted leave of court to apply for a variation of its order.
He asked that the court take custody of Naira Marley’s iPhone which had been in the custody of the prosecution.
When the defense counsel asked the witness if his analysis had also covered the possible number of persons that had used the said iPhone of the defendant, the witness replied that the number of persons was not ascertained.
When asked to confirm if there is a difference between the owner and user of a device, the witness answered: “The names on a phone can be changed depending on what the owner chooses to use.”
Meanwhile, the presiding judge, Nicholas Oweibo, adjourned the trial until November 30, December 13, and December 14.
Thank you for taking your time in reading through our Journal Today. We wish to always provide you with qualitative Stories as far as GOOD-JOURNALISM is CONCERN. But good journalism costs a lot of money and only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, accountability democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism, we ask you to consider subscribing to our daily news updates.
