Tag: Godwin Emefiele

Justice Rahman Oshodi of an Ikeja Special Offences Court will tomorrow decide whether or not to discontinue with the trial of embattled former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele.

Justice Oshodi set the date following an oral application the defence counsel filed on the premise that the trial judge should recuse himself from presiding over the trial of the ex-CBN governor.

During the resumed proceedings yesterday, the prosecution counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), continued the evidence-in-chief of the seventh prosecution witness, John Adetola.

Oyedepo reminded the witness about his statement that he collected $400,000 from John Ayoh and handed same to the first defendant in his office.

John said he did not receive any complaint about the $400,000 he delivered, as instructed during the business hours of the day.

A drama ensued at this stage as counel to the first defendant, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), objected to the prosecution’s request to allow the witness to read from the document the court received for identification purpose.

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Ojo argued that the court received the document for identification purpose and should not allow the witness to read or speak about the document.

The document the court received for identification purpose is a bundle of papers containing WhatsApp messages by a man identified simply as Eric and said to be the Personal Assistant to Emefiele.

When Oyedepo asked the witness to confirm the WhatsApp message, said to have been printed from his phone from Mr. Henry Omoile, the defence team objected on the ground that the document was solely meant for identification and was not an exhibit before the court.

Justice Oshodi overruled the defence team and allowed the witness to read from the document marked for identification.

Following the development, the defence counsel expressed dissatisfaction with the court’s decision.

Ojo averred that the ruling of the trial judge was unfair and asked him to recuse himself from the case.

The second defence counsel, Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), aligned with Ojo, urging the trial judge to recuse himself from the trial.

But Oyedepo opposed an oral application the defence filed for the judge to rescue himself from the case.

He said: “In this proceeding, your lordship had numerous times ruled against the prosecution. If the defence is dissatisfied with the ruling of the court, they can appeal.

“I do not know what defence is trying to prove by telling this court to recuse itself because in this case, there is no evidence of allegation of bias,” he said.

A prosecution witness, Mr Stephen Gana, on Monday told an Abuja High Court that two companies belonging to former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele got preferential treatments in vehicle procurement contracts bidding.

The witness, made this known while testifying in the case of alleged procurement fraud preferred against Emefiele  by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Gana who is the Prosecution Witness (PW10), was the former Head of Procurement Department.

The witness led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN confirmed that he was in office when  contracts for vehicles contained in Exhibits F4 to F45, were approved.

The witness told the court that Toyota vehicles obtained at the cost of N99,900,000 was acquired by the CBN from April ”1616” Company Ltd through direct procurement .

Referring to Exhibit F5, Gana said two Toyota hilux were obtained at the cost of N23,100,000 each through selective bidding.

He said April 1616 company, was awarded the contract having placed the lowest bid and aligning with the CBN’s in-house estimate of the same sum.

Earlier, the witness had testified that at the CBN, contracts could be awarded through direct procurement or selective bidding.

He added, depending on the guidance of the Director of procurement department who works in team with the Deputy Director, the Head of Procurement(himself) and the procurement officer.

After his testimony, the prosecution counsel prayed the court to grant him an adjournment different from the earlier date of Oct. 22.

”I am appearing in a case filed by Kogi and 15 other states against the EFCC in the Supreme court on Tuesday,” he told the court.

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The defence counsel, Matthew Burkaa, however, did not object to the prayer but pointed out that cost of movement was high now and such be considered.

Justice Hamza Muazu then adjourned the matter until Nov 13, for continuation and hearing of the application.

Earlier, the defence counsel, Burkaa, had opposed the prosecution’s amended additional proof of evidence served on them.

Burkaa challenged the process and manifestation of intent to call two witnesses who were not listed earlier.

He said the defence was not challenging the charge but bringing in of new witnesses to testify.

NAN reports that Emefiele was alleged to have engaged in criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence, when he served as the apex bank’s boss.

Among the allegations was that the former CBN boss forged a document titled: Re: Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observer Missions dated January 26, 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201 and purported same to have emanated from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (AGF).

He is also accused of using his office as CBN governor to confer unfair and corrupt advantage on two companies; April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd in suit marked: FCT/HC/CR/577/2023.(NAN)

The Presidency has said that various funds released within the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during the tenure of the former governor, Godwin Emefiele, which have contributed to the current state of the nation, were authorized without the knowledge or signature of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ajuri Ngelale, the special adviser on media and publicity to President Bola Tinubu, acknowledged in an interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo, broadcasted on Channels Television on Monday, March 11, and monitored by our correspondent, that the previous administration shared responsibility for certain occurrences at the Apex Bank during Emefiele’s leadership.

He said: “President Bola Tinubu has come out several times in fairness to him (Buhari), to say, “Look, this is what happened under the previous administration”. I think we have to acknowledge the fact that he (Tinubu) understands more than anyone that many of the approvals within the CBN that brought us to this point have no signature to President Muhammadu Buhari and had no knowledge of President Muhammadu Buhari.”

According to Ngelale, Buhari’s disregard for the CBN’s mismanagement contributed to the current state of the economy, even though he made strides in other areas like infrastructure and business accessibility.

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The presidential aide emphasised that Tinubu has not held back from telling Nigerians about events that occurred under his predecessor that were detrimental to the country’s economy, even though he backed Buhari’s administration.

He said: “We are not hiding behind the figure on this issue, I think I have been very clear that the prior administration does have to take responsibility for the fact that Governor Emefiele was left in office even though he was inherited and he was given a second term to continue doing what he ended up doing.

“That responsibility and that decision were made by President Muhammadu Buhari irrespective of the fact that President Buhari knew what was going on in the Central Bank of Nigeria. So, there is a responsibility to be taken there, I have to be very categorical about that.

“Now, that does not however mean that you throw the baby out with the bath water. We don’t say because these things happened in the Central Bank of Nigeria, President Buhari was devoid of achievement or progressive administration.

“Having infrastructure matters, working on ease of doing business, making sure that people can register a company in 48 hours as against six months before they came into office, these things actually have impacts with the responsibility attracting investments into the country.”

Ngelale cited an instance where an approval supposedly signed by Buhari, involving $6.2 million purportedly disbursed in cash by the CBN to accommodate foreign poll observers, was claimed to be fabricated.