The First Prosecution Witness, PW1, in the ongoing trial of
former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, Ogau Onyeka
Michael, on Monday, February 12, 2024
told Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court,
Maitama, Abuja, how the ex-CBN boss approved the payment of $6,230,000 (Six
Million, Two Hundred and Thirty Thousand Dollars) in cash for international
election observers in the last 2023 general election.
Michael made the revelation while testifying at the ongoing
trial of Emefiele. The former CBN boss is
standing trial before Justice Muazu on 20-count amended charges
bordering on corrupt advantages, conspiracy, and criminal breach of trust,
forgery and obtaining by false pretences to the tune of $6,230,000.00 (Six
Million, Two Hundred and Thirty Thousand United States Dollar).
At the resumed trial on Monday, Michael, a former branch controller of the CBN, Abuja branch,
led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, identified the
documents presented to him by the prosecution adding that he worked on the
documents.
According to him, on January 8, 2023, a request for payment
in the sum of $6,230,000 came to his
office and that documents for the disbursement of the money were approved by
the then CBN boss in cash for international election observers
“My Lord, all requests for payments are usually channeled to
the branch controller and that is my office. And on that day, my Lord, the
request to my office was $6,230,000 and
my attention was drawn towards it by my office assistant. It came from the banking services department
and the memo carried the signature of the Director, Banking Services, with an instruction to the
branch controller to pay the sum of $6,230,000 to a staff of the Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, bearing the name and identity card of the
person”, he said.
Continuing, Michael
explained that, “it stated that the
payment was for election observance and be paid cash in a naira equivalent of
the said amount. It further stated that
the money should be refunded in the second quarter of 2023 by the Federal Ministry
of Finance. My Lord, the document also stated that, ‘ find attached the
approval of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the payment’.
Also, the memo had an attached approval of the then Secretary
to the Government of the Federation, and that of the then President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. Having gone through the document and satisfied
that it met the requirement, I then minuted it to the head of the banking
services unit for processing and subsequent payment. Mr. Williams, head of
banking services compiled and made the payment on April 8, 2023, and the
payment was in cash. I can identify the
document because it also carries my signature”, he said.
Oyedepo, while trying to tender all the six documents as
exhibits, told the court that two of the documents that had the former SGF and
the President’s approval was a photocopy, and therefore sought to tender the
remaining four which were original, praying that the remaining two be tendered
later in the course of the trial. He
also asked the court for a 30 minutes stand-down to go to the CBN complex and
secure the original copies.
Defence counsel, Mathew Bukka, SAN, objected to Oyedepo’s
prayers arguing that since the case was slated for February 12 and 13, he
moved that the matter be adjourned till
February 13 arguing further that 30 minutes sought by Oyedepo won’t be enough for the prosecution to secure
the original documents from the CBN.
After listening to their arguments, Justice Muazu adjourned
the matter till February 13, 2024, for continuation of trial.
 |
| Emefiele holding a copy of King James Version (KJV) Bible |
0 Comments