Court Adjourns Emefiele’s Trial For Alleged Abuse Of Office To Nov 28

Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja on Wednesday adjourned the ongoing trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele to November 28.

Emefiele was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations bordering on abuse of office while at the saddle as the CBN governor.

Justice Oshodi adjourned the matter after the sixth Prosecution Witness, John Ogah, concluded his testimony.

The EFCC had arraigned Emefiele and one Herry Omoile before the court on a 26-count charge of accepting gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption, and fraudulent property receipt.

He was also accused of conferring corrupt advantage on his associates, contrary to the Corrupt Practices Act of 2000 in the charge filed on April 3rd by the anti-graft agency’s Prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).

Ogah, during his testimony on Wednesday, tendered several email messages he sent to the account officer of three companies, namely: Comec, Limelight, and Amswin Resources Limited in Zenith Bank, to transfer some amount to specific beneficiaries.

The witness, who said he worked as a secretary to Emefiele both at Zenith Bank and the CBN, claimed that all the emails he sent to the account officer and instructions given were as directed by his boss, Emefiele.

He said, “I have the instructions of my boss (Emefiele) to send the emails to the account officer, and all the instructions he gave were carried out.

Ogah also stated the former CBN governor had once instructed the account officer of Zenith Bank, Mrs Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, to transfer funds into his niece, Hannah Emefiele’s account.

He said, “In one of the emails, he instructed Ogbonaya to pay into the account of Hannah Emefiele while I was still working with him.”

Emefiele’s counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), objected to the claim, questioning the relevance of the name mentioned by the witness. He argued that Hannah’s name was not included in the charges.

The EFCC counsel, Oyedepo responded that although the niece’s name was not in the charge, she was alleged to have benefited from the proceeds.

“The name came up because some of the proceeds that went into this account are traceable to relatives of the first defendant,” he explained.

The judge, after listening to the lawyers, dismissed the objection.

Ogah also informed the court that Ogbonnaya was the account officer for Limelight, Comec, and Answin Resources Ltd., which Emefiele allegedly owns.

He further discussed messages provided to him by Emefiele, instructing him to communicate various directives to Ogbonnaya concerning the three companies supposedly owned by the former apex bank’s governor.

Under cross-examination conducted by Ojo, the witness told the court that he was keeping records while working as secretary to the former CBN governor, stressing that the records were for reference purposes.

On whether he showed the records he kept with the EFCC while in custody, Oga said he did not show any document to the anti-graft agency.

The witness also confirmed that there was no written communication between him and Emefiele, stating that 99 per cent of instructions he received from Emefiele were not in writing.