A Prosecution Witness with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Alvan Grumnaan, has narrated before Justice Rahman Oshodi how an aide to the embattled former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, received a total sum of $17.1 million over a three-year period.
The Head of Special Duty 77 (Special Operations Team) who claimed to have investigated the defendants the alleged abuse of office, $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud preferred against Emefiele and his co-defendent, Henry Omoile, testified on Tuesday.
Grumnaan while being led in evidence-in-chief by the EFCC Prosecution Counsel, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, before a Special Offences Court, Ikeja, at the continuation of trial stated that 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.
The lead investigator further said 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, human resources and banking supervision.
The EFCC official 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 said the agency also wrote to agencies such as the Code of Conduct Bureau, Corporate Affairs Commission and the FMDQ, seeking more information.
Grumnaan said 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.
According to him, “One of such names that featured prominently during the investigation was one Eric Odoh, a Personal Assistant to the first defendant, who is now being placed on an international watch list after all efforts to invite him failed.
Grumnaan also told the court that among the other aides that were invited for questioning was one Mr. 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 said 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 said between September 2020 up till the 2nd June, 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.
In continuation of his evidence, the eighth prosecution witness said that Mr. Osazuwa, acting further on Mr. Emefiele’s instructions, handed over most of the monies to the 2nd defendant, (Henry Omoile), 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.
He also told the court that 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.
Oyedepo sought to tender the printed documents as exhibits, while counsel for Mr. Emefiele, Mr. 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 to file an appropriate response.
The continuation of further hearing of evidence has been fixed for October 7, 2025.
