Nigeria, March 7 -- Henry Omoile, co-defendant in the alleged $4.5 billion fraud case involving former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, has told the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja that he lied in a statement he made to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

But he said he lied because of the threat he received from the EFCC.

Mr Omoile made the disclosure on Friday while testifying in a trial-within-trial before a judge, Rahman Oshodi.

The mini-trial was instituted to determine whether Mr Omoile's statement to the EFCC was made voluntarily or otherwise.

According to him, the statements marked as Exhibits TWT 1-4 did not contain a genuine confession, and he wrote only what investigators allegedly in...