The economic and financial crimes commission EFCC has opened its case against the former Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, on 20-count charges bordering on alleged corrupt practices and forgery.
A Deputy Director in charge of Branch Operations at the Central Bank of Nigeria,Onyeka Ogbu, told the court, that he was aware of a $6.2 million payment request for international election observers.
Ogbu, who is the prosecution witness one, said, the request was made on January 8, 2023
He added that the payment followed a number of approvals including that of the CBN governor.
He noted that he reviewed the documents and subsequently gave approval for disbursement which was then executed.
All documents were identified, but certain pages were absent. This led the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, to request a temporary halt for the issue of the missing pages to be addressed.
Counsel to Emefiele, Matthew Burkaa, however, objected, adding that the prosecution is bound by the evidence presented in the documents.
He said adjournment is better to allow the prosecution to get all the certified true copies and also for the witness to be cross-examined.
After listening to their submissions, Justice Hamza Muazu adjourned till Tuesday for the continuation of the trial
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