In a pivotal development within the trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, a significant revelation emerged on Monday as Onyeka Ogbu, the Deputy Director in charge of Branch Operations at the CBN, testified before a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama.
Ogbu disclosed to the court his awareness of a $6.2 million payment request intended for international election observers, marking a crucial moment in the case where Emefiele faces an amended array of 20 charges, including criminal conspiracy, conferring undue advantage, and breach of trust, brought forth by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The crux of the accusations against Emefiele revolves around purportedly impersonating the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to illicitly secure the aforementioned sum of $6.2 million. The EFCC contends that Emefiele, in January 2023, falsified a document titled “Re: Presidential directive on foreign election observer missions,” dated January 26, 2023, bearing Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201.
During the court session, Ogbu, serving as the prosecution witness, attested to the date of the payment request being January 8, 2023. He further elucidated that after reviewing the documents, he provided the necessary approval for disbursement, a process subsequently executed in due course.
Ogbu clarified, “Ours is to make payment, we don’t have the power to approve. Having gone through the documents and satisfied, I minuted on it and sent for processing and disbursement which was complied with.”
However, certain pages of the presented documents were conspicuously absent, prompting the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), to call for a temporary adjournment to address the issue of the missing pages.
In response, the defendant’s counsel, Matthew Burkaa (SAN), objected, asserting that the prosecution is obligated to work with the evidence available in the documents. He advocated for an adjournment to enable the prosecution to obtain all certified true copies and facilitate cross-examination of the witness.
Consequently, Justice Hamza Muazu deferred proceedings until Tuesday for the continuation of the trial, taking into account the submissions of both counsels.
