BY ANTHONY OCHELA, ABUJA
An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness on Monday told a FCT high Court, Maitama that he did not interview Godwin Emefiele during their investigation on alleged procurement fraud
Emefiele, a former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is being prosecuted by the EFCC in the case marked: FCT/HC/CR/577/2023.
He is standing trial on an amended 20-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence while serving as CBN governor.
Emefiele was, among others, alleged to have knowingly obtained by false pretence the sum of $6,230,000 purportedly meant for international election observers for the 2023 general election.
It accused the former CBN governor of conferring corrupt advantages on two companies—April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd.
He however, pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him.
At the resumed hearing, David Jaiyeoba the 12th prosecution witness (PW12) was cross examined by Matthew Burkaa SAN, counsel to Emefiele.
Jaiyeoba told the court that he did not personally interview the defendant, but his team did.
He added that EFCC’s findings were based on documents and statements of suspects who were arrested during the course of the investigation, the witness said.
“My evidence never mentioned April 1616.
“However, the defendant is not a signatory to the account of April 1616. I cannot remember if he is a director or shareholder.”
He added that the defendant was neither a signatory, director, nor shareholder of Archiketon Nigeria Limited.
He admitted he had not visited the CBN Governor’s residence, the specific Archiketon renovation site alleged in this case, nor any other project locations.
The EFCC’s findings on the renovation relied on statements provided by the company’s director, he said.
Jaiyeoba also noted that he was aware of the committee in the CBN that vets and handles the binding process of contracts, but could not recall the name.
He said that he did not interview the officers involved. “My team did, but personally, I was not part of that interview because the team had to be divided.
“One operated within Lagos while the others operated in Abuja.
“The Abuja team interacted with these officials due to proximity and distance.”
When asked if Emeifele was a member of the Major Contract Tender Committee that handled the procurement process, he replied: “I cannot remember.”
Burkaa then challenged the witness’s understanding of CBN’s procurement process, but the witness maintained that he understood the process.
His response prompted Burkaa to ask again who in CBN was responsible for ensuring whether a company is qualified for a contract, the witness replied, “I am not a staff, so I would not know.”
Burkaa then asked the witness about the properties he had mentioned in the last proceedings.
Burkaa asked if he was aware that the Court of Appeal had overturned the forfeiture order for the properties and presented him with the judgment.
The witness said he was seeing it for the first time but affirmed that while the defendant contested the forfeiture order, he never made a claim to $2 million (part of the items listed for forfeiture) as his property.
In June 2025, the Court of Appeal in Lagos overturned the forfeiture order and directed a fresh hearing by the lower court.
Jaiyeoba then acknowledged that the EFCC was bound by the Court of Appeal’s decision.
Burkaa then challenged him on why he tendered the code of conduct forms of the defendant.
The witness noted that he was not aware of the judgment.
During the last proceeding, the witness said that the investigations followed a report sent to the EFCC by the Inter-Agency Task Force, headed by the State Security Service (SSS).
Burkaa requested that the report be brought to court and EFCC’s lawyer, A.O. Mohammed, did not object to the request.
Emefiele’s statement was taken 73 days after the case was filed
Earlier in March, Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior SAN and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), tendered Mr Emefiele’s extrajudicial statement through the witness.
Burkaa highlighted that the statements were written from 26 October to 2 November 2023, but EFCC filed their charges against Mr Emefiele on 14 August 2023.
He then asked the witness “So you took the statements 73 days after filing the charges, you were still investigating the charges?”
The witness replied, “I am not aware of these dates.”
Similarly, Burkaa asked if the defendant was confronted with Nweke’s statement to seek his reaction, the witness stated that they did not.
Justice Hamza Muazu, then adjourned until Tuesday for continuation of trial.
