By John Ogunsemore
John Adetola, the 7th prosecution witness in the case against former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele on Thursday told the court he collected $400,000 cash on behalf of Emefiele.
Adetola, who identified himself as Executive Assistant to the ex-CBN governor, further told the court that he handed over the cash sum to Emefiele.
The prosecution witness appeared before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos Special Offences Court and was led in evidence by EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo SAN.
Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 26 counts bordering on abuse of office and alleged $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud.
At the resumed trial on Thursday, Adetola said he was summoned from Ekiti, his new posting place.
He said he joined the CBN in June 2014 from Veritas Registrars, formerly Zenith Registrars, a company he joined in 2007.
He said, “In 2018, I can’t remember the date, Mr. Eric Odoh sent me a message on WhatsApp that I should go and collect the sum of $400,000 from John Ayoh and give it to the former CBN Governor when he came to Lagos.
“I went to the house of John Ayoh at Lekki in Lagos. He gave me an envelope and I came back to the office, and I gave it to the former CBN governor.”
The witness told the court that as Executive Assistant to the former CBN governor, he managed office correspondences, attended to visitors, and performed other tasks as assigned by his boss.
This role, he said, gave him direct access to Emefiele.
He highlighted his modes of communication with Emefiele and named members of the ex-CBN governor’s household.
“I communicate with the former CBN Governor through telephone, office line, email and verbal communication.
“I know Mr. George, I know Mr Okanta. They are Mr Emefiele’s brothers. I know his wife, Mrs Margaret Emefiele. I also know the second defendant, Henry Omoile, he lived in Emefiele’s house in Lagos,” he said.
He said the EFCC sent him an invitation in February 2023 to come to their office.
He said he travelled to the EFCC office in Lagos and made voluntary statements.
The witness informed the court that the EFCC accessed his phone which had some office documents and he was questioned on them, after which they printed the documents.
The witness identified some of the documents showing his communication with John Ayoh and Odoh, stressing that he endorsed the documents as being printed from his mobile phone.
However, the prosecution counsel’s attempt to tender the documents as exhibits was resisted by the defence counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN) and Adeyinka Kotoye (SAN).
In a bench ruling, Justice Oshodi dismissed the objection by the defence and admitted as exhibits “a combination of official communication between the witness and Emefiele via Whatsapp, between the witness and John Ogah and Eric Odoh.”
The judge adjourned further hearing in the matter till December 10.