A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has told the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, how $6.23 million was withdrawn from the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a phoney election monitoring exercise during the 2023 general elections.
Testifying on Monday, prosecution witness Chinedu Eneanya, an Assistant Commander 2 of the EFCC, said investigations showed the funds were removed under the guise of financing foreign election observers.
“The investigation revealed that the money of $6.23 million was removed from the coffers of the CBN for purported funding of the foreign observer of the 2023 election,” he said.
Eneanya added that the EFCC questioned individuals linked to the withdrawal and recovered documents from the CBN that authorised the release of the funds.
The case is part of the EFCC’s prosecution of former CBN governor Godwin Emefiele, who is facing 20 amended charges, including criminal breach of trust, forgery, obtaining by false pretence, procurement fraud, and conspiracy-related offences. He has denied all the charges.
Led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the witness said forensic analysis indicated that the signatures of former President Muhammadu Buhari and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, were forged to facilitate the withdrawal.
However, under cross-examination by defence counsel Matthew Burkaa (SAN), Eneanya acknowledged that no forensic examination was conducted to verify the authenticity of Emefiele’s signature.
He also noted that five CBN officials who signed the internal memo connected to the transaction were not on trial but had been suspended.
When asked whether investigations showed that Emefiele personally received the funds, the witness said a lawyer, Ifeanyi Omeke, had claimed he received money on behalf of the defendant, although Emefiele himself was not questioned on that allegation.
Following his testimony, the court discharged the witness.
The prosecution did not call additional witnesses, citing uncertainty about their availability.
Oyedepo explained that subpoenas had yet to be obtained and that the witnesses, Jim Obessa and Eloho Okpozikbo, a commissioner of police were outside the court’s jurisdiction, in Benin and Lagos.
In response, the defence applied for the foreclosure of the prosecution’s case.
“If the witnesses do not come tomorrow (Tuesday), we will apply that they should be foreclose; justice is for the prosecution and the defendant.
“This is an antic for the prosecution to put maximum hardship on the defendant. Please let it be on record that the prosecution has several brought out this scenario,” Burkaa argued.
Oyedepo opposed the application, insisting the prosecution was not attempting to delay proceedings.
“It is another way they desire to preventing the prosecution from giving evidence,” he said.
Presiding judge Hamza Muazu directed both parties to reserve their arguments for final written addresses and advised the prosecution to obtain subpoenas through the court registrar. The case was adjourned until Tuesday for continuation.
Eneanya’s testimony aligns with earlier accounts from other witnesses.
A previous prosecution witness, Bashirudden Maishanu, a CBN assistant director, testified that the $6.23 million was withdrawn in cash from a CBN vault in a single day in February 2023 and labelled as payments to foreign election observers.
Similarly, Boss Mustapha had earlier told the court that both his signature and that of Muhammadu Buhari were forged to approve the withdrawal.
A former CBN controller in Abuja, Onyeka Ogbu, had also testified that he received documentation purportedly signed by Buhari, Mustapha, and Emefiele authorising the payment.
In addition, forensic expert Bamaiyi Meriga told the court that the documents used to process the withdrawal were forged.
