Emefiele Trial Continues as Witnesses Detail Alleged Multi-Billion Naira Cash Movements
Emefiele Trial Continues as Witnesses Detail Alleged Multi-Billion Naira Cash Movements
Emefiele Trial Continues as Witnesses Detail Alleged Multi-Billion Naira Cash Movements
The trial of former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, continued on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Maitama, Abuja, with fresh testimonies revealing alleged complex cash movements and banking transactions running into billions of naira.
Emefiele is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an eight-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, conspiracy, forgery, and unlawful possession of properties suspected to be proceeds of crime amounting to ₦7,831,002,396.
Testifying as Prosecution Witness Three (PW3), Richard Agulu, a staff member of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), told the court that he joined the NCC in 2023 after spending about 17 years at Zenith Bank, where he worked between July 2007 and March 2023, including at the Maitama branch in Abuja.
Led in evidence by Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Agulu recalled that during his time at Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia was the Managing Director before Godwin Emefiele later assumed the position. He stated that Emefiele frequently visited Abuja branches of the bank and left Zenith Bank in 2014 following his appointment as CBN Governor.
The witness further told the court that he knew one Eric Ocheme, a former Zenith Bank staff who later moved to the Central Bank of Nigeria, where he worked as Emefiele’s personal assistant.
Explaining his dealings, Agulu said that staff salaries and entitlements at Zenith Bank were paid through accounts domiciled with the bank, and that in the course of his duties, transactions occurred involving Emefiele and Eric.
“My Lord, Mr. Eric, as the personal assistant to the defendant, used to run errands for him. On the defendant’s instruction, I used to receive cash from Eric and disburse same when needed,” he testified.
According to PW3, the cash received was either kept in the bank’s vault or deposited into certain accounts, adding that he received the funds on behalf of the defendant, Godwin Emefiele. He said although Emefiele had an account with Zenith Bank, the funds were not lodged into his personal account but were disbursed strictly based on instructions conveyed through Eric.
PW3 identified Exhibit B as the account of Ifeabigo Integrated Services, which he said belonged to a friend, Mr. Peters Adebayo, a businessman resident in Abuja. He told the court that between 2020 and 2022, he deposited several sums into the account using funds received from Eric on behalf of the defendant.
He then gave a detailed breakdown of transactions, stating that on February 3, 2021, two transfers of ₦20 million and ₦30 million were made, followed by a ₦25 million transfer on February 24, 2021. On March 4, 2021, he personally deposited ₦19 million and ₦12.5 million in cash, with further deposits of ₦14 million and ₦9 million on March 9, 2021.
According to him, ₦50 million was received by transfer on March 31, 2021, alongside a ₦30 million cash deposit the same day. Additional deposits and transfers followed in April, May, June, and July 2021, including deposits of ₦99 million twice on April 21, 2021, ₦72 million on June 17, 2021, and multiple cash deposits totaling hundreds of millions of naira.
PW3 told the court that on August 25, 2021, acting on instructions from the defendant through Eric, he transferred ₦600 million and ₦300 million from the Ifeabigo Integrated Services account to MG Properties Limited. He also identified Exhibit C as the account of Kelvito Integrated Services, from which ₦700 million was transferred to MG Properties Limited on the same day.
“In total, I transferred ₦1.6 billion to MG Properties Limited on the defendant’s instruction through Mr. Eric,” he said.
He further testified that on September 2, 2021, multiple transfers totaling over ₦300 million were received from Ace Frozen Foods Ventures, followed by structured cash withdrawals involving 22 withdrawals of ₦10 million each and one of ₦5 million.
“Mr. Eric came to pick the cash, and I made the withdrawals for him,” he stated.
PW3 added that similar transactions continued through the end of 2021 and into January 2022, all allegedly carried out on the defendant’s instructions through Eric. He disclosed that he was later invited by the EFCC, where he confirmed the transactions and said he did not know the purpose of the payments to MG Properties Limited.
Under cross-examination, Agulu confirmed that only account holders or authorised signatories could approve withdrawals and that, in the transactions described, the account owners or signatories authenticated the withdrawals.
Earlier, the prosecution also called Prosecution Witness Two (PW2), Olomotam Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank. Egoro told the court that in June 2025, Access Bank received a request from the EFCC seeking details of the Ace Frozen Foods Ventures account.
He said the bank provided the requested documents, including account statements and mandates, which were tendered and admitted in evidence as Exhibit E. Under cross-examination, Egoro confirmed that Emefiele’s name did not appear in the documents and that the mandate holders of the account were Kamaru Lasisi and Raphael Ibhafidon Uguomore.
Justice Yusuf Halilu thereafter adjourned the case to February 16, 2026, for continuation of trial and further cross-examination.
Emefiele Trial Continues as Witnesses Detail Alleged Multi-Billion Naira Cash Movements
