We arrested lawyer with $2m cash allegedly belonging to Emefiele

An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator told the FCT High Court in Abuja on Thursday how a lawyer working for former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele was arrested with over $2 million cash.

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The EFCC agent, David Jaiyeoba, told the court that the lawyer, Collins Omeife, confirmed during interrogation that the cash belonged to Mr Emefiele.

Mr Jaiyeoba appeared in court on Thursday as the 12th prosecution witness in the corruption trial of Mr. Emefiele, who faces 20 charges stemming from his activities as the CBN governor. Mr Emefiele was removed as the CBN governor in June 2023 over corruption allegations after serving nine years in office.

The EFCC is prosecuting Mr Emefiele on 20 amended counts, including criminal breach of trust, forgery, obtaining by false pretence, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud, and conspiracy to commit a felony.

The charges also include the alleged fraudulent payout of $6.23 million from the CBN vault in Abuja in 2023 under the guise of payments for phoney foreign election observers’ expenses.

Mr Emefiele vehemently denied all the charges.

Since taking the stand as a prosecution witness last month, Mr Jaiyeoba has repeatedly said Mr Omeife confirmed that he regularly received cash from Mr. Emefiele, some of which was in foreign currency, specifically United States dollars.

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He told the court that the funds were usually sent to him through Mr Emefiele’s personal assistant, Eric Ocheme.

He said the funds were used to acquire properties and renovate some old assets for Mr Emefiele.

He listed some of the properties in question to include detached duplexes at No. 17B Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos State; a bungalow and undeveloped land measuring 1919.592 square meter on Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi and a four-bedroom duplex at 12A Probyn Road, Ikoyi.

Others are an industrial complex under construction on 22 plots in Agbor, Delta State; eight units of undetached apartment on Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State; and a detached duplex on Bank Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State.

EFCC framed the cash used to acquire, renovate or develop the properties as proceeds of Mr Emefiele’s corrupt activities while in office.

The agency initially obtained a final forfeiture order against some properties linked to Mr Emefiele.

However, in June 2025, the Court of Appeal in Lagos overturned the forfeiture order and directed a fresh hearing by the lower court.

What we found – EFCC investigator

In his testimony on Thursday, Mr Jaiyeoba said EFCC arrested Mr Omeife with $2,045,000 cash and confirmed that the money belonged to Mr Emeifele.

Also, Mr Jaiyeoba told the court that Mr Omeife confirmed that, before his arrest, he had some of the money he received to develop some of the properties.

He said when Mr Omeife was asked about the money, “he said: ‘The cash belonged to the defendant who had sent Mr. Eric (Ocheme)’.”

“He confirmed he had in his possession before the point of his arrest other cash in addition to the sum found with him, but had used some of it for the development of some of the properties listed, which were on the instructions of the defendant,” Mr Jaiyeoba added.

He also reiterated that Mr Omeife received the money from the defendant through Eric Ocheme, a personal assistant to Mr Emefiele.

However, the witness stated that a court order restrained their interactions with Mr Omeife.

He said Mr Omeife told interrogators that the property at 12A Probyn Road, Ikoyi, Lagos – a four-bedroom duplex – was under renovation”.

He also said that the $2million recovered from him was to be partly used for the renovation of the property.

The witness also said that Mr Emefiele affirmed his ownership of the properties in the forfeiture proceedings initiated by the EFCC.

Prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, who is a Senior Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), tendered Mr Emefiele’s extrajudicial statement through the witness.

Mr Emefiele’s lawyer, Matthew Burkaa, a SAN, reserved his objection. Trial judge, Hamza Muazu, admitted the statement.

The prosecution also tendered a Zenith Bank account statement of Architekon Nigeria Limited.

Mr Jaiyeoba had testified during the previous proceedings that the company is linked to Mr Emefiele’s wife and brother-in-law.

On Thursday, the witness spotted on the company’s statement of account an inflow of over N350 million from the CBN between 2020 and 2022.

Mr Jaiyeoba said Mr Emeifele’s brother-in-law, MacCombo Omoile, confirmed the sum as proceeds of contracts executed for the CBN, including the renovation of the CBN’s governor’s residence in Lagos and NISAC officers across the country.

Thereafter, the prosecution team requested an adjournment.

The judge, Hamza Muazu, adjourned the case until 16 March for further hearing.

12th prosecution witness’ previous testimony on cash recoveries, suspicious contracts

Mr Jaiyeoba’s testimony during the previous proceedings on 30 January addressed extensively recovered cash funds linked to Mr Emefiele.

He recalled that the investigations followed a report sent to the EFCC by the Inter-Agency Task Force, headed by the State Security Service (SSS).

“Several individuals, companies and government agencies were invited and interviewed and several findings were made,” he said, adding that a lot of assets as well as cash were recovered in the process which have been forfeited to the federal government.

“Two million dollars was discovered to have come from one Eric Ocheme Odo. The said Eric was PA (Personal Assistant) to the defendant during his tenure as governor of CBN. It was confirmed by the person who kept the over $2,0450,000, who happens to be the lawyer of the defendant, that the cash we found in his possession was the property of the defendant. We found property documents and he also confirmed that the property belonged to the defendant,” he said.

Testifying further, he said, “My lord, funds amounting to $2,045,000.00 alongside several property title documents were recovered from Zenith Bank Plc Headquarters in Lagos in the possession of one Mr Collins Omeife, lawyer to the defendant. In the course of our investigations on Collins, it was discovered that Mr. Collins Omeife had been acquiring and perfecting title documents on the instruction of the defendant.”

He added that the defendant’s ownership of the assets was further confirmed by the defendant in the forfeiture proceedings aimed at the assets.

He also informed the court that Emefiele approved payments for contracts to several companies including Architekon Nigeria Limited, promoted by MacCombo Omoile, his brother-in-law and Margaret Omoile, his wife.

According to him, the defendant approved payment for Architekon Nigeria Ltd, disclosing that Exhibit A1 is an internal memorandum of the CBN, showing approval for the payment of the CBN governor’s residential house in Ikoyi Lagos. He further stated that Exhibit A2 is a contract document for the landscaping of the governor’s residence by Architekon Nigeria Ltd.

The case so far

In January, the 11^th prosecution witness, Bashirudden Maishanu, an assistant director in CBN, narrated how the sum of $6.23 million was withdrawn in cash from a CBN vault in one day in February 2023, during Mr Emefiele’s tenure as governor of CBN.

The testimony shed light on a transaction that previous witnesses had said was based on false claims and forged documents.

However, Mr Maishanu narrated the roles he played in facilitating the suspicious cash withdrawal. He said the money was tagged as payments to foreign observers for the 2023 general election.

On 13 February 2024, Boss Mustapha—who served as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) under President Muhammadu Buhari—testified as a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial.

In his testimony, Mr Mustapha said Mr Buhari’s signature was forged to give approval to the cash withdrawal of $6.2 million from the CBN vault.

That was a day after a former controller at the CBN in Abuja, Onyeka Ogbu, told the court that he received the written approval given by Messrs Buhari, Mustapha, and Emefiele for the cash payment.

Mr Mustapha, who testified as the fourth prosecution witness for the EFCC, said his signature and Mr Buhari’s were forged by people who pilfered the $6.23 from the CBN vault on 8 February 2023.

Similarly, on 7 March 2024, Bamaiyi Meriga, a forensic expert, told the court that documents used to facilitate the withdrawal of $6.23 million from the CBN were forged.