A Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja was on Tuesday told how a staggering sum of $17.1 million was received by an aide to the embattled former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, over a three-year period.
This disclosure was made by Assistant Commandant Alvan Gurumnaan, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), while testifying in the ongoing trial of Emefiele before Justice Rahman Oshodi.
He revealed that one of the former CBN governor’s close aides, Mr. Monday Osazuwa, received the large sums of money from a businessman at an address in Victoria Island, Lagos, between September 2020 and June 2023.
According to the EFCC official, “The total money given is $17,100,000. Mr. Osazuwa collected these sums in various tranches and delivered them to Mr. Godwin Emefiele at his Ikoyi residence.”
Gurumnaan, who has been with the EFCC since 2008, further stated that part of the money was also handed over to one Henry Omoile, on the instruction of Emefiele.
The EFCC investigation uncovered these transactions following intelligence reports alleging procurement fraud and abuse of office by Emefiele while he was in office as CBN Governor.
The Commission’s special operations team launched a far-reaching investigation, issuing multiple requests for documents and inviting key staff from several CBN departments, including Financial Markets, Trade and Exchange, Banking Supervision, Legal, Currency Operations, and Human Resources.
In his testimony, the witness who’s the eight person to testify for the prosecution, said the agency
had earlier received several intelligence reports against Mr Emefiele even while in office bordering on allegations of abuse of office, demanding and receiving gratification, procurement fraud, as well as living above means.
Mr Gurumnaan says his team uncovered “credible intelligence” during the investigation, which spanned enquiries to various departments within the apex bank, such as trade and exchange market, legal, HR, and banking supervision. He added that certain officials were also invited for questioning, some of whom were either cautioned before their responses were taken, while some were detained and later released to reliable sureties.
The witness says the agency also wrote to agencies such as the Code of Conduct Bureau, Corporate Affairs Commission and the FMDQ, seeking more information.
He says it was during the investigation that some staff who worked directly under Mr Emefiele either at the CBN’s headquarters or at the Lagos annex were questioned. He says one of such names that featured prominently during the investigation was one Eric Odoh, a PA to the first defendant, who’s now been placed on an international watch list after all efforts to invite him failed.
He says among the other aides that were invited for questioning was one Monday Osazuwa, who revealed under investigation that Mr Emefiele, who was out of Lagos at the time, sent him the number of an individual for him to call. After making the call, the aide says he met with the contact person at an address in Victoria Island, Lagos, where a certain amount of dollars was given to him to hand over to Mr Emefiele.
The witness told the court that Mr Osazuwa says, between Sept 2020 and June 2, 2023 (seven days before Mr Emefiele’s suspension as CBN governor), he met with the same businessman severally, who always handed him dollars in various sums totalling $17.1million, for transmission to the top banker.
The witness went on saying, that Mr Osazuwa acting further on Mr Emefiele’s instructions, handed over most of the monies to the 2nd defendant, who also transmitted them to Mr Emefiele.
At other instances, the aide said he handed over the money directly to Mr Emefiele, and that those transactions mostly occured on Fridays when Mr Emefiele was leaving the office. The witness added that Mr Emefiele was said to always confirm the receipt of the sums of monies with the businessman in question over the phone after each transaction.
The team lead said the contact person was also invited for questioning and that he confirmed giving Mr Emefiele’s aide a total sum of $17.1m.
The witness said the team also examined the phone of the businessman, and that certain WhatsApp chats were revealed and printed at the EFCC Lagos office for use during the trial.
When the EFCC’s lead counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, (SAN) sought to tender the printed documents as exhibits, lead counsel for Mr Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo (SAN) didn’t object but Yinka Kotoye (SAN), appearing for the second defendant, urged the court to allow him tender his objections during final address stage.
The judge agreed and admitted the documents as exhibits. But, both defence counsel requested leave of court to conduct an independent forensic examination of the particular exhibits, saying it would be beneficial for them during cross examination of the present witness.
Responding, the court ordered them to file a formal application to that effect to allow the prosecution file an appropriate response.
Further evidence of the EFCC operative is fixed for October 7, 2025.
