Emefiele: Witnesses told the court that the naira notes were redesigned and manufactured locally

A prosecution witness, Chinedu Eneanya, on Wednesday told the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court that the redesigned naira notes were produced locally at the direction of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has charged former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, for alleged disobedience to the law and illegal acts detrimental to society.

Eneanya was cross-examined by former advisor to the CBN governor, Olalekan Ojo (SAN).

When asked for confirmation, Exhibit N1 was an extrajudicial statement from the Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), Ahmed Halilu.

The witness answered in the affirmative and added that Halilu was invited to explain this.

He said Halilu stated that NSPMC initiated and eventually produced the redesigned Naira banknotes locally.

The witness stated that during the examination, no evidence was found that contradicted evidence N1.

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He said CBN paid NSPMC for the production.

When asked whether Emefiele violated the president’s directives?

Eneanya added “The investigation showed that the defendant did not comply with the provisions of the CBN Law of 2007, Article 19, which states that the CBN board must recommend to the president before the currency must be redesigned.”

He was asked to confirm to the court whether this was the only ‘act’ of defiance by the defendant.

The witness said that in the defendant’s memo to the President, there were three examples of new banknotes attached.

“The defendant in an 11-page memo to the President attached three examples or sketches of notes that would be changed and the president approved the design and said it must be produced domestically,” he said.