Emefiele, wife not signatories to accounts of firms awarded CBN contracts — Witness

An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission prosecution witness, Mrs Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, on Wednesday, told an Ikeja Special Offences Court in Lagos that a former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and his wife, Margaret, were not signatories to the accounts and companies that received contracts from the CBN.

Ogbonnaya disclosed this while she was being cross-examined by Emefiele’s counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN).

The witness had on Tuesday told the court that she received instructions from Mrs Margaret Emefiele to transfer cash from CBN into their companies’ Zenith Bank accounts.

She stated that apart from Mrs Emefiele, she also receives instructions from two other people, Mr John Ogah and one Mr Opeyemi Oludimu, who works for Emefiele, but that she has to confirm from Mrs Emefiele.

At the resumed hearing of the trial on Wednesday, Ogbonnaya said that neither Emefiele nor his wife were signatories to the accounts of the three companies namely Limelight Multidimensional Limited, Comec Support Services Limited and Ambswin resources Limited.

Ogbonnaya identified the signatory to the accounts as Mrs Augustina.

She, however, told the court that transaction would not be processed until it was approved by Mrs Emefiele.

The witness said, “l still maintain that Mrs Margaret Emefiele gave me instructions through phone calls, WhatsApp chat, and my official email.

“I saved Mrs Emefiele’s number as ‘Margo’ on my phone, and she has several numbers, but I can only remember her foreign number, which is +447941835451.

“The phone numbers are saved on my mobile device, iPhone 11, which are for my contact, both personal and official.”

The witness further told the court that instructions to banks were not oral but in writing, and before she came to court to give evidence, she had the opportunity to review the account opening of the three companies.

Ogbonnaya maintained that Emefiele’s name and his wife’s did not appear as shareholders or signatories to the corporate accounts of the companies.