The $6.2 million Emefiele spent on foreign election observer missions was pure theft, witnesses told the court

The trial of former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, before Justice H.Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, continued on Thursday, with the 14th Prosecution Witness, PW14, Okpoziakpo Eloho, telling the court that $6,230,000 disbursed by the apex bank on the instructions of the accused for the purpose of a foreign election observer mission without further details, was “pure theft.”

Led by the Public Prosecutor and Director of Public Prosecutions, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, the witness, the Commissioner of Police at the Police Headquarters Fraud Unit, Abuja, stated that “The money has been released in full, we see approval from the Governor”

He told the court that the purpose of his release was simply to steal. “It’s pure theft. It was stolen, if not obtained under false pretenses,” he said.

He identified Exhibit PD5, which he told the court was a presidential directive regarding the Foreign Election Observer Mission, and added that his investigative team’s finding was that the intent was entirely to commit fraud and not for the purpose stated in the memo. “Our findings regarding PD5 are all fraud,” he said.

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On the bright side, he revealed that the investigation team managed to recover around $800,000 of alleged stolen funds. “I don’t remember the amount, but it was around Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars,” he said.

In cross-examination carried out by attorney Mathew Burka, SAN, the witness emphasized that Emefiele as governor had control over CBN funds. He identified Exhibits PD1 to PD7 and revealed that special investigators interviewed Boss Mustapha, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, adding that although the letter in the first paragraph of Exhibit PD3 purportedly came from Mustapha, the former SGF, he said, said that the signature on Exhibit PD6 was not his.

He further revealed that the person who collected $6,230,000 was Jibril Abubakar, and added that Exhibit PD4 was a copy of Jibril Abubakar’s ID card, but “the staff ID card number was not his. He was not an SGF staffer, that is what was revealed in the investigation.”

When asked by the attorney whether the process of disbursing funds had been carried out or not, the witness answered no. “This document was from the governor to the Director of Banking Services, the protocol was not followed. I think the procedure, the document must be followed up through the deputy governor,” he said.

Judge Muazu adjourned the case until July 3, 2026 to continue the trial.