A deputy director, branch operations at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Onyeka Ogbu, has noted that Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the apex bank, got the approval of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari and Boss Mustapha, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), for the disbursement of $6,230,000 “to international election observers”.
Ogbu spoke while testifying before a federal capital territory high court in Maitama, as the first prosecution witness in the suit against Emefiele, TheCable reports.
Leading the witness in evidence on Monday, Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC lawyer, asked Ogbu to speak on certain documents regarding the case.
The documents, according to the witness, related to the disbursement of the said $6,230,000 funds.
“On February 8, 2023, request for payment of $6,230,000 was brought to my attention by the banking services department,” the witness said.
“When I received the document, I found that it was from the Banking Services Department.
“The director, banking services signed the memo, and the content of the memo contained an instruction for the Branch Controller to pay the sum of $6,230,000 to a staff of the secretary to the government of the federation, with the identity and the name of the person mentioned.
“The memo said the payment was for international election observers and that we should debit an account — Naira Forex Account — with the naira equivalent of $6,230,000.
“The memo also said that the money will be refunded in the second quarter of 2023 by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
“It went on to say ‘find attached the approval of the governor of the CBN for the payment’.
“The attachment had the approval of the governor of the CBN. It also had the approval of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the request letter from the secretary to the government of the federation.
“Having gone through the documents and satisfied, I minuted on it and sent for processing and disbursement which was complied with.”
On whether the money was released, the witness said: “Payment was eventually made. The $6,230,000 was paid on the 8th of September 2023. The payment was in cash”.
Emefiele was suspended on June 9, 2023, by President Bola Tinubu, who also ordered a probe into his tenure as CBN governor.
On September 17, reports of Emefiele’s resignation emerged but the federal government remained quiet on the issue.
On September 22, Isa AbdulMumin, CBN’s director of corporate communications, confirmed his resignation while announcing that Olayemi Cardoso has assumed office as the acting governor of the CBN.
At the point of tendering the documents, the prosecution counsel noticed that two of the documents were not properly certified. Oyedepo then sought a stand-down to enable them to get the certified true copies.
However, Matthew Burkaa, counsel to Emefiele, opposed the application.
He said an adjournment was better to allow the prosecution to get all the certified true copies of all the needed documents and also for the witness to be cross-examined.
After listening to their submissions, Hamza Muazu, the presiding judge, adjourned until Tuesday for the continuation of the trial.
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