A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday told a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court in Abuja how a withdrawal of $6.23 million was made from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a purported election monitoring exercise during the 2023 general election under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the apex bank.
Testifying, Chinedu Eneanya, an assistant commander with the EFCC, said investigations showed the funds were taken from the CBN vault under the pretext of paying foreign election observers.
“The investigation revealed that $6.23 million was removed from the coffers of the CBN for purported funding of the foreign observers of the 2023 elections,” Eneanya said.
Eneanya, the 13th prosecution witness, told the court that documents authorising the release of the funds were recovered from the apex bank, while individuals linked to the transaction were questioned.
The EFCC is prosecuting Emefiele on a 20-count amended charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, forgery, obtaining by false pretence, procurement fraud, and conspiracy.
At the centre of the case is the alleged payment of $6.23 million from the CBN vault in 2023 for what the commission described as a “phoney” election observer exercise. Emefiele has denied all the charges.
The witness, while being led in evidence by Rotimi Oyedepo, director of public prosecutions of the federation (DPPF), said the EFCC discovered that signatures attributed to the late President Muhammadu Buhari and Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) at the time, were forged to facilitate the withdrawal.
He said the finding followed a forensic examination of the documents used in processing the payment.
However, under cross-examination by defence counsel, Matthew Burkaa, Eneanya said no forensic test was conducted on Emefiele’s signature.
He also confirmed that none of the five CBN officials who endorsed the internal memo authorising the transaction are standing trial, noting that they were suspended by the bank.
When asked whether investigations showed that Emefiele personally received the funds, the witness said a lawyer, Ifeanyi Omeke, had claimed to have received money on behalf of the former CBN governor.
He added that Emefiele was not questioned on that allegation.
The court subsequently discharged the witness.
Proceedings took another turn when the prosecution failed to present additional witnesses despite the defence indicating readiness to continue.
Oyedepo told the court that it was uncertain whether the remaining witnesses would be available, explaining that subpoenas had not yet been issued, adding that the witnesses were outside the court’s jurisdiction.
He said the witnesses, Jim Obessa and Eloho Okpozikbo, are in Benin and Lagos.
The defence counsel, however, urged the court to foreclose the prosecution’s case if the witnesses fail to appear.
“If the witnesses do not come tomorrow, we will apply that they should be foreclosed… This is an antic for the prosecution to put maximum hardship on the defendant,” he said.
But Oyedepo opposed the request, saying it was an attempt to prevent the prosecution from presenting its case.
The trial judge, Hamza Muazu, asked both parties to reserve their arguments for final written addresses and directed the prosecution to liaise with the court registrar to issue subpoenas.
The case was adjourned to Tuesday for continuation of trial.
Eneanya’s testimony aligns with earlier evidence presented by prosecution witnesses.
In January, Bashirudeen Maishanu, a CBN official, told the court that the $6.23 million was withdrawn in cash in a single day in February 2023 and tagged as payments to foreign election observers.
Also, on February 13, 2024, the former SGF testified that his signature and that of Buhari were forged to approve the release of the funds.
A day earlier, Onyeka Ogbu, a former CBN controller in Abuja, said he received documents bearing approvals from Buhari, Mustapha and Emefiele for the payment.
In March 2024, Bamaiyi Meriga, a forensic expert, also told the court that the documents used for the withdrawal were forged.
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