A prosecution witness on Tuesday narrated to the FCT High Court in Abuja how he allegedly received multiple sums of money from Taraba State officials on behalf of his former boss, then-Governor Darius Ishaku. He added that he distributed the funds to various recipients according to instructions from the former governor.
Ismail Lawal, a former personal assistant to Mr Ishaku gave the details during a hearing in the fraud trial of the former governor. Mr Ishaku governed the north-eastern state between 2015 and 2023.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting the former governor alongside Bello Yero, a former Permanent Secretary of the state’s Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs during Mr Isahku’s time in office.
In October, the commission arraigned the two men on 15 counts before trial judge Sylvanus Oriji.
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The charges accused the defendants of criminal breach of trust, conspiracy, and fraudulent conversion of public funds to the tune of N27 billion.
The prosecution alleged that they diverted the money from the contingency funds belonging to the state’s Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and certain local governments of the states into their private uses.
Mr Lawal, who is the first prosecution witness in the case, began testifying in January.
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On Tuesday, during cross-examination by Mr Ishaku’s lawyer, Paul Ogbole, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the witness was shown a notebook in which he had detailed the funds he allegedly collected from state government officials and distributed to others on behalf of Mr Ishaku.
Money received
Based on the notebook, which the court earlier accepted as an exhibit, Mr Lawal told the trial judge that he took from an official, on behalf of Mr Ishaku, N10 million on 13 December 2020, in Abuja and N15million on 12 January 2021.
Mr Lawal also admitted collecting money on behalf of the then governor from Mr Yero, the second defendant. He disclosed that he collected N50 million from the official on 20 December 2020, N30 million on 12 January 2021, and N20 million on 27 January 2021.
He also admitted taking money from Emmanuel Ifun, a recurring name in his testimony. According to Mr Lawal, Mr Ifun was a Director of Finance, Government House.
Mr Lawal said he received N7 million from Mr Ifun on 11 December 2020.
According to him, he subsequently received from Mr Ifun, N4 million on 30 January 2021, N20 million on 3 February 2021, N6.5 million on 5 February 2021, N20 million on 6 February 2021, and N14 million on 10 February 2021.
According to the prosecution witness, he also took N10 million and N13 million on 1 January 2022. He also received N30 million through Zenith Bank on 10 February 2021.
‘Ishaku verified my notebook’
The witness fielded questions on circumstances surrounding the notebook detailing the funds and Mr Ishaku’s knowledge of the document.
He confirmed that the notebook was neither a government record nor banking record but said it “is strictly” between him and the former governor.
“Any money I received, I recorded it here. It is a record book between me and His Excellency. I kept the record, and His Excellency verified it,” he added, but admitted that the entries were not counter-signed by those he collected monies from.
He also said the instructions from the former governor regarding the funds were verbal. He added that Mr Ishaku sometimes gave the instructions “through text messages and sometimes through writing on paper.”
During a hearing in June, the judge admitted in evidence Mr Lawal’s extra-judicial statement, detailing the accounts and persons to whom funds he received were transferred according to the instructions of the former governor.
Working with Ishaku and life thereafter
He disclosed that he received a N130,000 monthly salary and an additional allowance of N20,000 per day whenever he travelled with the former governor.
Besides working for the then-governor, Mr Lawal said he ran a poultry valued at N5 million alongside his father,
“The birds were 6,000 then, but as of today, they are 2,000. The capacity has diminished. As of then, the poultry’s value was about N5 million. It is being run by my father and me,” he said.
In January, Mr Lawal narrated how Mr Ishaku gave him $5,000 to relocate to Lagos to evade EFCC arrest.
On Tuesday, Mr Lawal said, “I was asked to go to Lagos by His Excellency ( Mr Ishaku). That was not the first time I had been to Lagos; I have friends and relatives there.
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“I stayed in hotels in Lagos. I paid bills for the time I stayed there at N20,000 per day, totalling N600,000 per month. I spent one and seven months there.”
He did not tender any receipts to back his claims, alleging that the EFCC operatives confiscated some documents, including some of the receipts, when he was arrested.
The judge, Mr Oriji, adjourned the case to 20 October for the continuation of cross-examination of the witness.
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