A lead investigator with the EFCC has testified in the fraud trial of former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele of how an aide of the top banker allegedly collected a total sum of $17.1million on his behalf from a businessman over a period of three years.
Mr Emefiele, who is accused of abuse of office and fraud of $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion, is charged along with one Herry Omoile on allegations of accepting gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption, and fraudulent property receipts.
Alvan Gurumnaan, who’s an Assistant Commander with the EFCC, told the presiding judge, Justice Rahmon Oshodi of the Lagos State special offences court sitting in Ikeja, that he was assigned to head a special operations unit tasked with investigating both defendants.
In his testimony, the witness who’s the eight person to testify for the prosecution, said the agency
had earlier received several intelligence reports against Mr Emefiele even while in office bordering on allegations of abuse of office, demanding and receiving gratification, procurement fraud, as well as living above means.
Mr Gurumnaan says his team uncovered “credible intelligence” during the investigation, which spanned enquiries to various departments within the apex bank, such as trade and exchange market, legal, HR, and banking supervision. He added that certain officials were also invited for questioning, some of whom were either cautioned before their responses were taken, while some were detained and later released to reliable sureties.
The witness says the agency also wrote to agencies such as the Code of Conduct Bureau, Corporate Affairs Commission and the FMDQ, seeking more information.
He says it was during the investigation that some staff who worked directly under Mr Emefiele either at the CBN’s headquarters or at the Lagos annex were questioned. He says one of such names that featured prominently during the investigation was one Eric Odoh, a PA to the first defendant, who’s now been placed on an international watch list after all efforts to invite him failed.
He says among the other aides that were invited for questioning was one Monday Osazuwa, who revealed under investigation that Mr Emefiele, who was out of Lagos at the time, sent him the number of an individual for him to call. After making the call, the aide says he met with the contact person at an address in Victoria Island, Lagos, where a certain amount of dollars was given to him to hand over to Mr Emefiele.
The witness told the court that Mr Osazuwa says, between Sept 2020 and June 2, 2023 (seven days before Mr Emefiele’s suspension as CBN governor), he met with the same businessman severally, who always handed him dollars in various sums totalling $17.1million, for transmission to the top banker.
The witness went on saying, that Mr Osazuwa acting further on Mr Emefiele’s instructions, handed over most of the monies to the 2nd defendant, who also transmitted them to Mr Emefiele.
At other instances, the aide said he handed over the money directly to Mr Emefiele, and that those transactions mostly occured on Fridays when Mr Emefiele was leaving the office. The witness added that Mr Emefiele was said to always confirm the receipt of the sums of monies with the businessman in question over the phone after each transaction.
The team lead said the contact person was also invited for questioning and that he confirmed giving Mr Emefiele’s aide a total sum of $17.1m.
The witness said the team also examined the phone of the businessman, and that certain WhatsApp chats were revealed and printed at the EFCC Lagos office for use during the trial.
When the EFCC’s lead counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, (SAN) sought to tender the printed documents as exhibits, lead counsel for Mr Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo (SAN) didn’t object but Yinka Kotoye (SAN), appearing for the second defendant, urged the court to allow him tender his objections during final address stage.
The judge agreed and admitted the documents as exhibits. But, both defence counsel requested leave of court to conduct an independent forensic examination of the particular exhibits, saying it would be beneficial for them during cross examination of the present witness. Responding, the court ordered them to file a formal application to that effect to allow the prosecution file an appropriate response.
Further evidence of the EFCC operative is fixed for October 7, 2025.
