The immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Monday asked a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to terminate the prosecution’s case against him if it fails to present its remaining witnesses at the next adjourned date.
Emefiele made the application before Justice Hamza Muazu, who is presiding over his trial on an amended 20-count charge bordering on alleged criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office, conspiracy and obtaining $6.23m by false pretence.
The charges were filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on behalf of the Federal Government, over funds allegedly earmarked for international election observers during the 2023 general elections.
At Monday’s proceedings, prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), told the court that the commission might be unable to produce its remaining two witnesses due to delays in securing subpoenas.
However, defence counsel, Matthew Burkaa (SAN), urged the court to foreclose the prosecution’s case if the witnesses fail to appear at the next sitting, accusing the anti-graft agency of a pattern of delays.
He said, “If the witnesses do not appear at the next adjourned date, we urge the court to foreclose the prosecution. Justice must be balanced. The prosecution’s conduct is causing undue hardship to the defendant.”
Oyedepo opposed the application, insisting that the prosecution was not deliberately stalling proceedings but was making efforts to secure the attendance of the witnesses, who are said to be based in Lagos and Benin City.
Earlier, the prosecution presented its 13th witness, an Assistant Commander of the EFCC, Chinedu Eneanya, who told the court that a special investigative team probed the alleged $6.23m fraud.
Eneanya testified that the funds were withdrawn from the coffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria under the pretext of funding foreign election observers. He added that former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, denied knowledge of the request.
The witness further told the court that forensic analysis indicated that signatures purportedly belonging to former President Muhammadu Buhari and Mustapha on relevant documents were forged.
Under cross-examination, however, Eneanya admitted that no forensic analysis was conducted on Emefiele’s signature, despite the defendant’s claim that it was forged.
He also disclosed that five CBN officials linked to the transaction were only subjected to administrative sanctions and were not prosecuted. The witness added that he did not have direct interaction with Emefiele during the course of the investigation.
Eneanya further admitted that an allegation that the defendant received funds through his lawyer was not independently verified by investigators.
The defence subsequently challenged the credibility of the witness, describing his testimony as evasive and urging the court to treat it with caution.
Justice Muazu adjourned the matter till Tuesday for continuation of trial and directed the prosecution to immediately obtain the necessary subpoenas for its remaining witnesses.
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