How senior lawyer, Nwobike, paid N750, 000 into Justice Yunusa’s account – Witness

A witness in the ongoing trial of a senior lawyer, Joseph Nwobike, on Friday, told a Lagos State High Court sitting in Igbosere how Mr. Nwobike paid N750, 000 into Justice Mohammed Yunusa’s bank account with Zenith bank.

Mr. Nwobike is standing trial for allegedly bribing a Federal High Court judge.

The witness, Oyekunle Aderemi, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, made the disclosure when he was confronted with the statement of account of the defendant.

In the account statement, the witness identified a transaction of March 19, 2015, in which the defendant paid N750, 000 into Mr. Yunusa’s account.

Earlier, the prosecution had moved to tender the account statement but the defence counsel, O. Akanni, objected to the admissibility of the document.

But when the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, applied to withdraw the document, Mr. Akanni dramatically withdrew his objection and the document was admitted and marked as exhibit P2.

Mr. Oyedepo also cross-examined the second prosecution witness, Oliver Owaremi, also a compliance officer with Access Bank in evidence.

He told the court that his bank received a request from the EFCC, seeking the account information of Hawa Ajiya Nigeria Limited, a company that was alleged to be part of the channels the defendant used to transfer money to Mr. Yunusa.

Another Federal High Court Judge, Justice Hyeledzira Ajiya, was said to be the owner and sole signatory of the company’s account.

From this account, the witness showed the debit transaction of N300, 000 to Mr. Yunusa from the company’s account on November 30, 2015.

During cross examination, the witness said apart from the transactions of September 28, 2015 and that of November 30, 2015, there was no other transactions between Mr. Nwobike and Hawa Ajiya or Mr. Yunusa.

Justice Adebiyi adjourned the matter to May 12, 26 and 30 for continuation of trial.