The FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, heard on Monday that a total of about N1.8 billion belonging to Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State was transferred into the bank account of a company run by a government official during former Governor Darius Ishaku’s administration.
The official, Taiwo Jones, who is an assistant cashier in the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of Taraba State, told the court that his company received the funds in tranches at various times on the instructions of the then-Permanent Secretary of the bureau, Bello Yero.
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He said he disbursed the money based on Mr Yero’s instructions and sometimes handed some of the funds in cash directly to Mr Yero.
According to Mr Jones, who appeared before the court as the third prosecution witness, he sometimes drove Mr Yero to the Government House, the governor’s official residence, to deliver the cash received from him.
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Mr Yero and former Governor Ishaku are jointly standing trial before the court on charges of diverting about N27 billion belonging to the state government and some local governments in the state for personal use.
Mr Jones, who confirmed receiving N1.8 billion through his company’s account on Mr Yero’s instruction for onward disbursements to others, continued his testimony in the case on Monday.
On 16 June, the third prosecution witness testified that he ran the company, P3 Cornerstone Limited, which he said was involved in farming business, before joining the civil service as an assistant cashier in the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of Taraba State.
According to him, senior officials of the bureau, including John Columba, Babangida Hassan and Mr Yero (the second defendant), asked him to provide his account details.
He also gave details of other similar transactions involving transfers of local government funds into his company’s account.
During Monday’s proceedings, he put the total amount of money involved at about N1.8 billion, and painted a picture of how some of the funds allegedly circled back to Mr Yero and the Taraba State Government House.
These form part of the N27 billion the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Messrs Ishaku and Yero for. The duo are facing charges of criminal breach of trust, conspiracy, and fraudulent conversion of N27 billion belonging to Taraba State.
Mr Yero was the Permanent Secretary, Taraba State Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, during Mr Ishaku’s reign as governor between 2015 and 2023.
According to the EFCC, the duo diverted the money from the contingency funds belonging to the state’s Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and certain local governments in the state for their private use.
They denied the allegations.
How the funds were disbursed
Led in evidence by EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Jones said on Monday that he received a total of 69 transfers from Gassol Local Government Area.
When asked to estimate the total amount, he replied, “about N1.7 billion or N1.8 billion.”
Mr Jones said he received the funds on “the instructions of the then-Permanent Secretary Yero, Mr Columba or the Director of Finance, Mr Hassan.”
“I provided them with information that the money had entered my account, then they would now give me further directives to send it to Prince (the second prosecution witness) in Abuja or to withdraw some.
“After withdrawal, they came with Dare Lawal (first prosecution witness). He confirms the money and they went away with the money.”
The trial judge, Sylvanus Oriji, asked the witness, “Who are they?”
He replied, “Mr Yero, the driver and Mr Lawal.”
Mr Jones also said Mr Yero sometimes took the cash to Taraba State’s Government House. He said he knew this because he sometimes carries Mr Yero to “the Government House with the money inside ‘Ghana-must-go bag’.”
The witness disclosed that the money he received from Gassol Local Government Area was from an account named the salary transmission account of the local government.
“This account is used for salary, projects and revenue,” the witness said.
The prosecution lawyer then tried to draw the court’s attention to the legitimacy or otherwise of the transactions by askin the witness if he had any contract with Gassol Local Government. Responding, the witness said he had none with the local government.
Mr Jacobs then drew attention to a N100 million paid into P3 Cornerstone’s account as an e-payment advice on 24 December 2018.
He asked the witness to provide details for this transaction. Mr Jones said this transaction was prepared by the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of Taraba State and authorised by two signatories. He he give their names.
The transaction narration read “For the purchase of assorted grains to be distributed during Christmas and New Year.”
He said the funds were not used to buy the assorted grains. Instead, he said he withdrew the cash and gave it to Mr Lawal.
The witness also said he received N30 million from the Donga Local Government Area’s salary transmission account.
Thereafter, the judge adjourned the case until Tuesday, 14 July.
So far, three witnesses have testified in the case.
The previous witnesses are Ismail Lawal, and Prince
Onwuzunike and Lawal, who told the court about their roles in the disbursement of the funds for which the EFCC is prosecuting the former governor and his co-defendant.
Mr Lawal, the first prosecution witness who previously worked for former Governor Ishaku’s private business before serving as his personal assistant during his governorship, testified almost throughout last year.
Testifying as the second prosecution witness in February, Mr Onwuzunike, who alluded to his personal relationship with the second defendant, Mr Yero, told the court that he received money through his account and withdrew it based on the directives of Mr Yero
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