How I received $600, 000 gratification on behalf of Emefiele- former CBN Director
A prosecution witness, John Ayoh, has narrated how he received a sum of six hundred thousand U.S. dollars contract gratification on behalf of a former Governor of the CBN Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele is a facing a 26-count charge bordering on abuse of office, accepting gratification, and gifts through agents, corruption and fraudulent property receipt brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos.
Speaking when he testified against Mr Emefiele at the court on Monday, the witness, a former Director of Information and Communication Technology at the CBN said on two occasions he received the said sums packaged in envelopes and that he personally delivered one of the packages to Emefiele at the Lagos office of the CBN while the other package was picked up by one of Emefiele’s assistants for onward delivery.
Ayoh who was led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, said after he collected the first amount- four hundred thousand dollars- at his Lekki Lagos home, one of Emefiele assistants named John Adetola now came over to pick it for delivery to the former CBN governor.
He said that on the second occasion, one of the bank’s vendors brought an envelope containing a sum of two hundred thousand dollars to him at the CBN office at Tinubu, Lagos. He said he then placed a call through to Emefiele informing him of the presence of the vendor but the former governor said he didn’t want to see any third party and that he (Ayoh) should collect and bring the package to him personally.
“I went to deliver it in his office and I met some bank CEOs in his office…
“It was a private handover between me and him”, Ayoh told the court.
On cross examination by counsel to Mr Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), the witness admitted that he wasn’t running errands for Mr Emefiele while working at the CBN though there was a time he directly reported to him. He said he retired from the CBN in April 2019 after putting in eight years of service.
Ojo pressed the witness to tell the court that he was not only invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission but was arrested by the agency and only released on bail but the witness insisted that the EFCC told him from day one that he was not a suspect though he admitted that he was released on bail.
An attempt by Ojo to assert that the witness was aiding and abetting crime through his admittance of collecting money purportedly on behalf of Emefiele was objected to by the prosecution counsel but the judge overuled the objection and the witness admitted that he was aiding the commission of crime but did so under duress because according to him under Mr Emefiele “we were all faced with tremendous pressure to bend the rules”.
Below is an excerpt of the cross examination of the witness by Olalekan Ojo (SAN):
OJO- which dept takes the final decision on the award of contract?
Witness-it’s a committee
Ojo- what’s the name of the committee?
Witness- Major Contracts Tenders Committee (but it’s at the Commiittee of Governors that the final decisions are taken)
OJO- Was the first defendant (Emefiele)a member of this commiittee
Witness- no
OJO- Their duties also include going through the recommendations of the procurement dept.?
Witness-yes
OJO- what are the powers of the committee with regards to the award of contracts?
Witness-they deliberate on the several submissions and make decisions and pass to the next level – Committee of Govs. There can be no approval if it doesn’t pass thru MCTC
OJO- the MCTC invites bids?
Witness-no
OJO- confirm to the court that MCTC invites bids?
Witness- they have a dept/division…
OJO- Also vets and approves contracts?
Witness- they….
OJO- What does MCTC do in relation to award of contracts?
Witness- if they are satisfied with the submissions of vendors they take decisions
OJO- regarding the contract you referred to for you know what the ..
Witness- the MCTC..
OJO- Did the dept of procurement come up with favourable report concerning this contract?
Witness- yes
OJO- Did the other dept also file a favourable report?
Witness- yes
OJO- confirm that MCTC is made up of 10 directors?
Witness- yes
OJO- Did you state that members of that committee were compromised?
Witness- no
OJO- you have said the decision of MCTC are critical, have you participated in the process?
Witness- I was a member of MCTC
OJO- if the 2 depts have confirmed a bid can the Committee of Governors now overule that? Do they have the power?
**At this point, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo objected to the question being put to the witness saying he couldn’t be pressed to state his opinion. Justice Oshodi overuled the objection clarifying that the question was about the witness stating his experience as a director of the bank and the witness proceeded to answer the question.
Witness- they on occasions have rejected recommendations and stepped down some. On occasions the agenda for the CoGs is determined by the Governor
OJO-tell the court those that constitute the CoGs?
Witness- 4 Deputy Governors and the Governor himself
OJO- not being a member of the CoGs you do not know how the agenda is prepared, do you know how it’s prepared?
Witness-its not my responsibility
OJO- did you also specialise in monitoring the agenda?
Witness- the agenda is determined by the governor alone.
OJO- concerning the contract in which you handled money, what was the decision of the MCTC , did they approve it?
Witness- they approved it
OJO-did the CoGs also approve it?
Witness-yes.
OJO- Do you know how decisions at CoGs are taken concerning award of contracts?
Witness- I can speak about the ones that concerned me.
OJO- He repeated the question
Witness- contractors don’t deal with CoGs directly
OJO- Do you confirm to the court that contractors don’t deal with CoGs directly?
Witness-no
OJO- do they deal directly with MCTC?
Witness- there are times that they are called upon.
OJO- Concerning the subject matter, did the MCTC invite the contractors?
Witness- it happened in 2017 thereabout and I couldn’t recollect whether they were invited
OJO- The decisions are reached in collegiate version?
Witness- theoretically.
OJO- Are you aware of any protest by any CoG member that these procurement matters were not reached collectively?
Witness- no
OJO- The decisions of the MCTC are also reached jointly?
Witness- yes – the Deputy Governor does have some power to step things down. Not 100 percent jointly.
…
The court granted the defense team’s prayer for the continuation of the cross examination of the witness at the next adjourned date.
Before the proceedings came to a close, the court granted the defense counsel’s request seeking an extension of its order releasing the first defendant to his lawyers owing to their inability to perfect the bail conditions yet.
Justice Oshodi extended the order to the 17th May 2024 and directed Emefiele’s counsel to file an affidavit in that regard within the next 24 hours.
Proceedings were then adjourned to the 3rd, 9th, and 17th of May for continuation of trial.
