New judge takes over ex-governor Obiano’s money laundering case, fixes new trial date

A new judge has taken over the N4 billion money laundering trial of former Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano.

The trial case came up before the new judge, Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday. But the judge postponed Mr Obiano’s case having spent the day attending to other matters.

Mr Umar rescheduled the hearing for 25 November.

The defendant is expected to take a fresh plea and the prosecution witnesses that already testified would have to be reinvited.

The case was reassigned to Mr Umar after the previous trial judge, Inyang Ekwo of the same Abuja division of the court was placed under a one-year suspension in April by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for misconduct.

Before the sanction came, Mr Ekwo had fixed 26 May for continuation of trial.

To avoid delaying the case for Mr Ekwo to return from his suspension, the Chief Judge had to reassign the case to a new judge – Mr Umar.

Mr Umar, who was recently transferred from the Enugu Division of the Federal High Court, did not sit on 26 May, prompting the court to adjourn the matter to 24 July for mention.

Mr Obiano served as Anambra State governor from March 2014 to March 2022.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) first arraigned him in January 2024 before the former trial judge.

He faces nine counts of misappropriation of more than N4 billion from the state treasury.

The charges include bypassing of financial institution in several unlawful cash transactions involving money allegedly stolen from the state’s account. The amount of cash involved in the transactions was said to be beyond legally permitted cash limits.

The charges also accused the former governor of spending of funds allegedly stolen from the state’s security vote account for other purposes.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Witnesses who will have to be recalled

At the 7 October 2024 hearing, the EFCC’s lawyer, Sylvanus Tahir, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), led two witnesses in evidence.

One of the witnesses, Ugochukwu Otubelu, a former bank employee who testified as the third prosecution witness, narrated how he managed the security vote account of the Anambra State government under Mr Obiano.

He told the court that the account’s signatories were the ex-governor’s former Principal Secretary, Willy Nwokoye, and the Accountant, Theophilus Nweze.

Mr Otubrlu said he processed transactions for them on a daily and weekly basis.

He said although funds from the security vote account were paid into six companies’ accounts, the money did not go to the account holders directly.

Another witness, Hayatu Hadejia, a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator, testified as the fourth prosecution witness.

He told the court that he runs five BDC companies and was invited by the EFCC in connection with financial transactions linked to the Obiano administration.

READ ALSO: Obianos Trial: Anambra govt paid N860m in companys account without my knowledge Witness

Another BDC operator, Ayuba Tanko, who testified as the fifth prosecution witness on 13 November 2024, said he received a total of N416 million in tranches between April and December 2017.

He told the court the funds were converted to $1.137 million in cash and returned to the sender.

Three other bankers have also testified in the trial.