John Ikechukwu Ayoh, a former director at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has testified against Godwin Emefiele, ex-governor of the apex bank, in the ongoing case of abuse of office at the Lagos high court.
Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are currently facing trial on a 26-count charge.
At the court proceedings on Monday,
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) presented Ayoh as the
second witness in the case against Emefiele.
Ayoh told the court that he worked at
the apex bank from June 2014 to April 2019 noting that he did not work directly
under Emefiele.
Ayoh added that he used to report to
Adebayo Adelabu, a former deputy governor of CBN, who is now the minister of
power.
The witness said he was the head of
procurement and support services (PSS) of the apex bank, which was vested with
powers to receive bids and select successful bidders.
The former CBN director said he
collected money from contractors as gratification of awarding contracts to them
based on the instruction from Emefiele.
The witness said Emefiele usually
sends his personal assistant (PA) — John Adetona — to collect the contractors’
kickback from him.
Ayoh said he collected $400,000 and
$200,000 in cash from contractors on two different occasions and handed them
over to Emefiele’s PA.
“The first transaction was $400,000
and the second one was $200,000 in cash. I was in my house when the first
envelope was brought to me. His assistant was asked to collect the money,” he
told the court.
“One of the vendors had a contract
with CBN which involved the implementation of data storage and infrastructure.
“The first package was collected in my
residence at Lekki phase one, while the second package was collected at the
head office in Lagos.”
During cross-examination by Olalekan
Ojo, counsel to Emefiele, Ayoh said he was under duress from the former CBN to
accept gratifications on his behalf.
“No, I was under duress from my boss
(referring to Emefiele). We were faced with tremendous pressure to bend the
rule,” the witness said when asked about aiding the commission of a crime by
collecting the money
Asked if he indicated in his statement
with the EFCC that the money was meant to influence the award of contracts, the
witness said some parts of his statement implied that.
“Who told you that it (the money) is
for gratification,” Emefiele’s counsel asked
“The cash is for gratification to the
governor for awarding the contracts. He (Emefiele) asked for it. He won’t
approve the contract without gratification,” the witness said.
On whether he was arrested by the
EFCC, the witness said the anti-graft agency invited him and was granted bail
afterwards.
Emefiele’s counsel told the court that
the witness must have traded being charged by the EFCC to become a witness
against the former CBN boss.
INTERIM BAIL
After the cross-examination of the
witness, Emefiele’s counsel sought a fresh interim bail for the former CBN
governor, pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions earlier stipulated by
the court.
Ojo told the court that the initial
interim bail granted to Emefiele ended today (Monday), adding that the defence
team has not been able to meet the bail conditions.
He urged the court to grant Emefiele
another interim bail that would end on May 17.
Rahman Oshodi, the presiding judge,
granted the request and ordered that Ojo swear to an affidavit to provide
Emefiele in the next adjourned date.
Oshodi adjourned to May 3, 9, and 17
for the continuation of the trial.
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