Court Announces New Date For Emefiele’s Trial

A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama has set October 21 for the next phase of the trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Naija News reports that the presiding judge, Justice Hamza Muazu, decided on this date after the conclusion of the cross-examination of the ninth prosecution witness, Abibia Ockiya-Ogeleye.

Ockiya-Ogeleye, a practising attorney, responded to inquiries from the counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC’s) side, Rotimi Oyedepo, during the trial.

She disclosed that she provided services to the company, Architekon Nigeria Limited, in 2021. This included preparing the company’s annual report and making changes to the company’s leadership and ownership structure.

She mentioned that prior to her involvement, Architekon had only two directors.

She explained that in 2021, Mrs. Esther Oyeladun Adeoun approached her to introduce her as a new director.

She submitted several documents as evidence, including a CAC document listing Margaret Omoyile, McCombo Omoyile, and Esther Oyeladun Adeoun as the company’s shareholders, a document detailing the transfer of shares from McCombo to Margaret, and a resolution approving Esther’s appointment as a director of Architekon.

Additionally, she showed the court an email she received from Oyeladun requesting her to become a director of the company.

Justice Muazu accepted all the submitted documents as evidence.

During the cross-examination by the defence counsel, Mathew Burkaa (SAN), the witness was questioned about whether she had a face-to-face meeting with McCombo and she responded in the negative.

He also inquired about the signatures on the company documents she presented and whether she observed McCombo signing them.

She responded that she couldn’t determine if they were present at the meeting and had their signatures on the resolution because they were dispatched to her, and she was not there in person.

Before that, the eight witnesses for the prosecution, including a Zenith Bank Compliance Officer named Mr. Umar Tilda, presented three bank documents to the court. These documents included a copy of Emefiele’s bank statement.

Tilda, referring to a section in Emefiele’s bank statement, told the court that there was a transfer of N4 million from Emefiele’s account to Architekon on January 13, 2015.

When Burkaa inquired about the purpose of the transfer, Tilda responded that he was unaware of its intended use.

Also, when asked if he knew that the accounts he listed as belonging to Emefiele were salary accounts, investments, savings and dividends, he replied, “I wouldn’t know.”

He also verified that certain accounts included provisions for Capital Interest Credit.

He also verified that a transaction involving an N15 million credit, recorded on April 13, 2015, in account number 2020000064, was linked to legal proceedings.

The court decided to postpone the trial until October 21 for further proceedings.

The court scheduled July 8 to address Emefiele’s request for the issuance of his passport, allowing him to seek medical treatment abroad.

Emefiele’s attorney informed the court that after leaving office, Emefiele had not sought any medical treatment.

Naija News reports that Emefiele is under indictment for a series of 20 counts, brought against him by the EFCC, against his preferred.

Emefiele, along with other officials, is being charged with using his position as Governor of the Central Bank to secure corrupt and unjust advantages for his spouse, colleagues, Mrs. Yaro, and two entities: April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd.