BY AMAYINDI YAKUBU
THE Delta State High Court sitting in Asaba has admitted a publication as provisional evidence in a road construction project dispute between Rt. Hon. Ndidi Elumelu and Mr. Patrick, pending a final ruling on its admissibility.
The hearing opened with the prosecution calling on Mrs. Brigette, a senior legislative aide who told the court she has known Hon. Elumelu for 20 years, and asked that her written statement be adopted as evidence. The prosecutor subsequently tendered paragraph six of an affidavit containing a published post connected to the road project, but defence counsel raised an immediate objection to the material.
Defence counsel argued that the link attached to the publication did not establish that the document originated from the stated source and therefore had no demonstrable association with the material presented before the court. The prosecution in response, informed the court that it would address the objection in its final written address. The presiding judge ruled the document admitted provisionally, pending a final determination.
During cross-examination, the defence asked the witness whether politicians routinely promote constituency projects on social media and in print, to which she answered affirmatively. She told the court she had personally sighted a signboard indicating that Hon. Elumelu attracted the road project, but disagreed with the suggestion that his absence from any official government document meant he had played no role in securing it. The witness further disclosed that a director at the Ministry of Works contacted her to relay that the Commissioner had instructed him to call her, and that she was subsequently asked to accompany ministry officials to the project site which she did.
She disputed the defence’s suggestion that the contract was awarded directly to Hon. Elumelu, stating that the name of the contracting company appears both in her witness statement and on the site signpost. “I am sure the day they called me, the company did not know the site,” she told the court.
The witness added that Hon. Elumelu had an oral discussion with the governor regarding the road project and confirmed that the road project spans both Aniocha North and Aniocha South local government areas.
When defence counsel asked whether the project falls within Hon. Emeka Nwaobi’s constituency and whether Nwaobi could equally have attracted the road construction, the witness said there would have been no reason for the Ministry of Works to contact her in her capacity as Hon. Elumelu’s senior legislative aide if the approval had not been connected to him.
She added that since Hon. Elumelu has served in the Green Chambers, he has attracted numerous projects to the constituency, including the Issele-Uku road project in Aniocha North.
The court adjourned the matter to March 30, 2026, and April 13, 2026, to allow the prosecution to call its principal witness and other winesss and present its arguments, in compliance with trial-readiness requirements.
