An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator told the FCT High Court in Abuja on Monday that former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, is not a signatory to the accounts of two companies he was said to have corruptly awarded the Bank’s contracts.
“My evidence never mentioned April 1616; however, the defendant (Mr Emefiele) is not a signatory to the account of April 1616. I cannot remember if he is a director or shareholder,” said the investigator, David Jaiyeoba, who is the 12th prosecution witness in Mr Emefiele’s corruption trial.
|
|
The prosecution witness added that the defendant was neither a signatory, director nor shareholder of Archiketon Nigeria Limited.
He said this while Mr Emefiele’s lawyer, Matthew Burkaa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), cross-examined him.
|
|
|
|---|
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.
It accused the former CBN governor of conferring corrupt advantages on two companies—April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd.
April 1616 allegedly belonged to Sa’adatu Ramalan-Yaro, who was said to be an associate of Mr Emefiele CBN employee.
The 10th prosecution witness, Salawu Gana, who is a former head of procurement department at the CBN, testified in February 2025, that bidding information for CBN contracts was leaked to Ms Ramalan-Yaro and April 1616 Investment Limited. The alleged corrupt transactions allegedly took place between 2018 and 2020 while Mr Emefile was the CBN governor.
EFCC initially arraigned Mrs Ramalan-Yaro alongside Mr Emefiele as a co-defendant. However, an amendment to the case in 2024 discharged her from the trial, while the number of charges against Mr Emefiele was reduced from 20 to six.
Other charges against Mr Emefiele include the alleged fraudulent payout of $6.23 million from the CBN vault in Abuja in 2023, under the guise of payments for fictitious foreign election observers’ expenses.
Mr Emefiele denied all the charges.
Details of EFCC’s investigation findings
During Monday’s proceedings, the witness shed light on what transpired during investigations by the EFCC.
Mr Jaiyeoba told the court that he did not personally interview the defendant, but his team members did.
The EFCC’s findings were based on documents and statements of suspects who were arrested during the course of the investigation, the witness said.
He admitted he had not visited the CBN Governor’s residence, the specific Archiketon renovation site alleged in this case, nor any other project locations.
Consequently, EFCC’s findings on the renovation relied on statements provided by the company’s director, he said.
Bidding process
Mr Jaiyeoba also noted that he was aware of the committee in the CBN that vets and handles the bidding process of contracts but could not recall the name.
He said that he did not interview the officers involved. “My team did, but personally, I was not part of that interview because the team had to be divided. One operated within Lagos while the others operated in Abuja.
“The Abuja team interacted with these officials due to proximity and distance.”
When asked if Mr Emeifele was a member of the Major Contract Tender Committee that handled the procurement process, he replied: “I cannot remember.”
Mr Burkaa then challenged the witness’ understanding of CBN’s procurement process, but the investigator maintained that he understood the process.
His response prompted Mr Emeifele’s lawyer to ask again who in CBN was responsible for ensuring whether a company is qualified for a contract, the witness replied, “I am not a staff (member), so I would not know.”
Property forfeiture
Mr Burkaa then asked the witness about the properties he had mentioned in the last proceedings.
Earlier in March, the witness testified about how Mr Emeifele’s lawyer, Collins Omeife, confirmed that he regularly received cash from Mr Emefiele through his 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.
On Monday, Mr Burkaa asked Mr Jaiyeoba if he was aware that the Court of Appeal had overturned the forfeiture order for the properties and presented him with a copy of the judgement.
The witness said he was seeing it for the first time but affirmed that while Mr Emefiele contested the forfeiture order, he never made a claim to $2 million (part of the items listed for forfeiture) as his property.
In June 2025, the Court of Appeal in Lagos overturned the forfeiture order and directed a fresh hearing by the lower court.
Mr Jaiyeoba then acknowledged that the EFCC was bound by the Court of Appeal’s decision. Mr Burkaa then challenged him on why he tendered the code of conduct forms, which listed the declaration of assets by Mr Emefiele.
The witness noted that he was not aware of the judgement.
During the last proceeding, the witness recalled that the investigations followed a report sent to the EFCC by the Inter-Agency Task Force, headed by the State Security Service (SSS).
On Monday, Mr Burkaa requested that the report be brought to court. EFCC’s lawyer, A.O. Mohammed, did not object to the request.
Emefiele’s statement taken 73 days after filing of case
Earlier in March, prosecution lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), tendered Mr Emefiele’s extrajudicial statement through the witness.
On Monday, Mr Burkaa noted that the statements were written from 26 October to 2 November 2023, but EFCC filed their charges against Mr Emefiele on 14 August 2023.
He then asked the investigator, “So you took the statements 73 days after filing the charges, when you were still investigating the charges?”
The witness replied, “I am not aware of these dates.” Similarly, Mr Burkaa asked if the defendant was confronted with Mr Nwike’s statement to seek his reaction, the witness stated that they did not.
Thereafter, the trial judge, Hamza Muazu, adjourned the matter until Tuesday.
Highlights of testimonies
Mr Jaiyeoba, in a previous testimony, told the court how a lawyer working for Mr Emefiele was arrested with over $2 million in cash. However, during cross-examination on Monday (today), he noted that the defendant never laid claims to the money.
In January, the 11th 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 was at the time the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) during the administration of 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.
Discover more from Premium Times Nigeria
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
