Emefiele admitted bypassing CBN board on Naira redesign – Witness

A prosecution witness on Thursday told the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, that former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele embarked on the controversial redesign of Naira notes in 2022 without obtaining the bank’s board and Committee of Governors (COG).

The seventh prosecution witness, Chinedu Eneanya, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said Mr Emefiele made the admission in his extra-judicial statement he wrote during investigation, preparatory to his trial.

Mr Emefiele is standing trial on four counts, including illegal redesign of Naira notes, disobedience to the direction of law, and illegal act causing injury to the public.

The former CBN governor has denied the charges.

Led in evidence by EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), on Thursday, Mr Eneanya said Mr Emefiele only sought the approval of the board and committee of governors for the Naira redesign after the former President Muhammadu Buhari gave his assent.

“The approval was obtained without the resolution of the COG,” the witness said.

Asked if Mr Emefiele was confronted with this fact by investigators, the witness said, “The defendant, in the course of investigation, was confronted (with the finding), and the question was put to him if he obtained approval of the CBN Board and the COG, and he wrote in his statement that he did not.”

Trial judge Maryanne Anenih admitted the extra-judicial statement by Mr Emefiele as Exhibit W.

Backed by then-President Buhari, Mr Emefile introduced new N200, N500, and N1,000 notes and mopped up their old versions from circulation in a manner that outpaced supply of the new notes. This led to a severe cash shortage, causing significant hardship for millions of Nigerians and incalculable disruption to the financial system for months.

The prosecutor, Mr Oyedepo, on Thursday, presented six video clips that documented the hardships of Nigerians and Mr Emefiele’s press briefing that appealed and promised respite to Nigerians from the hardship caused by the Naira scarcity through the witness.

The videos were collected from media organisations – News Central, TVC, Channels Television, and Arise News.

Emefiele did not follow the CBN Act – Witness

Mr Eneanya told the court that one of the videos made reference to the Supreme Court’s decision, which the defendant breached.

He said, “In the course of investigation, my team set out to determine whether the laws of the introduction or change of currency was followed or abused.

“The totality of the documentary evidence that we have looked at which includes R1-R7 (Supreme Court’s judgement earlier tendered as evidence) and electronic evidence showed that the defendant did not proceed based on the CBN Act and the approvals of the board of the CBN.

“Their approval was not sought or obtained. The COGs were informed of the approval after the approval was obtained from Mr President. When we perused the judgment, we saw that we made findings of fact.”

However, Mr Emefiele’s lawyer, Olalekun Ojo, a SAN, objected to the evidence on the grounds that it was impermissible to give an oral account of a public document. Mr Ojo stressed that the document already spoke for itself.

But Mr Oyedepo challenged his objection, stating that the witness did not give evidence to vary or alter the findings of the Supreme Court’s judgement.

Following the lawyers’ argument, the judge, Ms Annenih, overruled the objection on the condition that the witness would limit himself to his findings as an investigator rather than giving evidence of content.

Thereafter, Mr Ojo applied for a fresh date for cross-examination of the witness. The judge granted his application and adjourned till 26 November for cross-examination.

What previous witness said

The fifth prosecution witness, Kingsley Obiorah, who is a former deputy governor of the CBN, had similarly testified in November 2014 that the bank’s board never recommended Naira redesign to former President Buhari.

Mr Obiorah, who testified virtually, said he once served as Special Adviser to Mr Emefiele on economic matters.

The prosecution witness, who later became deputy governor, said the CBN board first heard of the Naira redesign policy on mid-December 2022.

“To the best of my recollection, the first day this policy (Naira redesign) was discussed at the board meeting was mid-December 2022. I think it was around 15 December 2022.

“The governor (Emefiele) invited the Deputy Governor, Operations, and Director, Currency Operations, to present that same memo that the Committee of Governors (COG) saw in October. He also informed the board of the President’s approval.

“I do not recollect any instance where the board made recommendation for Naira redesign to the President. The board did not recommend the Naira redesign.”

Disruptive redesign

The unpopular Naira redesign policy marks one of the darkest periods of former President Buhari’s administration, causing a severe shortage of currency notes and inflicting significant hardship on many Nigerians during the first two months of 2023.

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Mr Emefiele and Mr Buhari remained adamant in implementing the policy even as it triggered chaos and widespread disruption amid preparations for the 2023 general elections. They touted the policy as a measure to stop vote buying during the elections.

But despite the policy being in force, cases of vote buying were recorded during the 25 February 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.

Mr Buhari staunchly defended the policy to the extent of ignoring an interim order of the Supreme Court suspending its implementation. On 8 February 2023, the Supreme Court ordered that both the old notes and their newly designed versions should remain legal tender pending further hearings in the suit. But in violation of the court’s order, Mr Buhari, in a broadcast on 16 February 2022, restored the validity of the old N200 notes and insisted that the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes had ceased to be valid.

The case was finally laid to rest when the Supreme Court gave its final judgement on 3 March 2023.

It nullified Mr Buhari’s directive withdrawing the old naira notes and extended their validity till 31 March. The Supreme Court also adjudged Mr Buhari a disobeyer of court order, citing his violation of its earlier interim order suspending the implementation of the naira redesign policy.