Two separate high-profile corruption trials involving former Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, featured fresh revelations on Thursday, as prosecution witnesses gave accounts of investigations into alleged financial misconduct.
While a witness in Ngige's trial told an Abuja court about presidential directives issued following an investigative panel's probe of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), an investigator in Emefiele's trial alleged that the former CBN governor used associates to acquire properties worth billions of naira.
In the case involving Ngige, the third prosecution witness, Onwusoro Maduka Iheamelam, a Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, disclosed that he received presidential instructions to implement decisions arising from an investigation into the NSITF.
Iheamelam made the disclosure during cross-examination by defence counsel, P.I.N. Ikwueto, SAN, before Justice M.A. Hassan of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja.
The witness said he served on a presidential investigative panel constituted to examine the activities of the NSITF during Ngige's tenure as Minister of Labour and Employment.
According to him, following the panel's findings, he received directives from the President to implement decisions taken on issues uncovered during the investigation.
He explained that the instructions covered procurement procedures and other activities of the fund within the period under investigation.
Proceedings were also characterised by a disagreement between the prosecution and defence over access to the witness's previous statements.
Ikwueto had requested that the prosecution produce the original copies of the statements for examination.
However, EFCC counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, opposed the request, maintaining that the defence should formally apply for Certified True Copies of the documents if it wished to obtain them.
Ngige is standing trial on an eight-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged abuse of office and fraudulent contract awards involving NSITF projects valued at N2,261,722,535.84.
The commission accused the former minister of involvement in irregularities in the award of contracts while exercising supervisory authority over the fund.
He has yet to be convicted of the allegations.
At the end of Thursday's proceedings, Justice Hassan adjourned the matter until February 9, 10 and 11, 2027, for continuation of trial.
In the separate case involving Emefiele, an EFCC investigator, Alvan Gurumnaan, told the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, that investigations allegedly uncovered a network of properties linked to the former CBN governor.
Gurumnaan, who led the investigative team handling the case, testified as the eighth prosecution witness, PW8, before Justice Rahman Oshodi.
He alleged that Emefiele deployed associates to acquire several properties across the country, with their combined value exceeding what could reasonably be explained by his legitimate earnings as CBN governor.
The former apex bank chief is being prosecuted alongside Henry Omoile on a 19-count charge bordering on alleged receipt of gratification and corrupt demands while he was in office.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel and Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Gurumnaan said the investigation followed intelligence received by the special operations team under his supervision.
Among the properties allegedly linked to Emefiele, he listed two adjoining duplexes in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, and two mansions on Queens Drive, Ikoyi.
He also mentioned an uncompleted factory in Agbor, Delta State; a property belonging previously to the Nigerian Printing and Minting Company on Adekunle Lawal Street, Ikoyi; and a warehouse in Ogun State containing containers.
Other assets listed by the witness included 94 luxury flats in two-storey buildings under construction, an industrial park and an Abuja estate comprising more than 700 duplexes under construction.
Gurumnaan told the court that several of the properties had already been forfeited to the Federal Government through judgments delivered by different courts.
He maintained that Emefiele had acknowledged ownership of the properties during earlier court proceedings.
"My Lord, several courts have given judgments in favour of the EFCC, forfeiting assets and properties belonging to Emefiele. He accepted and came to court that the properties belong to him," the witness said.
The investigator further alleged that a factory under construction in Emefiele's hometown of Agbor had been traced to him before its eventual forfeiture to the Federal Government.
He also accused the former CBN governor of acquiring a property on Adekunle Lawal Street, Ikoyi, which previously belonged to the Nigerian Printing and Minting Company, where Emefiele had served as board chairman.
According to the witness, Emefiele purchased the property and subsequently sold it to himself.
The building, which comprises eight flats, was also forfeited to the Federal Government, he added.
Gurumnaan disclosed that investigators recovered another warehouse allegedly belonging to Emefiele in Ogun State, close to the outskirts of Lagos.
However, defence counsel, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, urged the court to disregard the evidence concerning the Agbor factory and the Adekunle Lawal Street property.
Ojo argued that the two properties were not included in the charges against his client and should therefore not form part of the prosecution's evidence in the ongoing proceedings.
In another development, Oyedepo, who appeared alongside B. Bilkisu C. C. Okezie and Z. B. Atiku, tendered a document containing a Supreme Court judgment for admission as an exhibit.
Justice Oshodi adjourned the case until November 13, 2026, to rule on the admissibility of the document and continue hearing.
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