Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of the redesign of the Nigerian currency, the naira, has been admitted as an exhibit before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja.
The approval dated October 6, 2022 from the State House and personally signed by the former President was conveyed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Godwin Emefiele as governor to proceed with the project of redesigning and printing the currency.
The chief of staff to the ex-president was said to have transmitted the written presidential approval to the CBN.
Also tendered and admitted as exhibits are samples of the re-design currency approved by Buhari.
The documents were tendered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through its witness, Mr Ahmed Bello Umar, former Director of Currency Operations at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The witness was led in evidence by the EFCC’s lead counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
Umar, who claimed to have authored some memos related to the project, however, revealed that Emefiele partly departed from former President Buhari’s approval.
The witness said, among other things, that while the portraits in the samples endorsed by Buhari were on the right side, those printed had them on the left side.
The former director of currency operations at the CBN also claimed that the numbering styles for the currency Emefiele adopted differed from the modes that the CBN adopted under Emefiele.
Similarly, the witness said that while the approved samples have QRO, those printed did not have the features.
Under cross-examination by Mahmoud Magaji (SAN), counsel to Emefiele, the witness admitted that Buhari approved the naira redesign project.
He also admitted that Buhari on December 29, 2023 publicly launched the re-designed naira currency for the use of Nigerians as legal tender.
The witness also admitted that the redesigned currency has his signature as director of currency operations, adding that no currency becomes legal tender without his signature.
The EFCC had on May 15 arraigned Emefiele on a four-count charge before Justice Maryanne Anenih of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting in Maitama, Abuja.
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