The 15th Prosecution Witness, PW15, Jim Osayande Obazee, in the trial of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, on Friday, July 3, 2026 told Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Abuja that the $6.2 million allegedly earmarked for foreign election observer mission for the 2023 general election, fraudulently withdrawn from the apex bank’s Abuja branch, pushed the CBN dollar account for internal staff and MDAs into a negative balance of N2.858 billion.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC is prosecuting Emefiele before Justice Muazu on amended 20-count charge, bordering on conferment of corrupt advantages, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and obtaining by false pretences to the tune of Six Million, Two Hundred and Thirty Thousand United States Dollar ($6,230,000.00).
The witness, a federal government’s special investigator, appointed by President Tinubu on July 28, 2023 for the probe the CBN and related government business entities, while being led in his testimony by prosecution counsel and Director of Public Prosecution, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, disclosed that the withdrawal was made without a naira cover as required for dollar transactions, which forced the account into a negative balance of N2,858,150,196.42, a development, he said, that ought to have triggered an investigation of the transaction by the defendant and the bank’s chief accounting officer.
Furthermore, he disclosed that the money left the Abuja branch of the bank on February 3, 2023 without proper documentation of the receiving staff and further disclosed that the transaction should have been flagged in the CBN’s 2022 financial statement, which was signed in May 2025, and ought to have been captured by external auditors, Ernst & Young as well as the bank’s internal audit report.
The special investigator also revealed that CBN’s Bank Verification Number, BVN portal was non-functional for over a month in the lead up to the withdrawal, making it impossible for the fund recipient to present identification before collecting the funds.
“Nobody will allow you leave the bank until the account is balanced,” he said, adding that Emefiele, as a career banker and the bank’s chief accounting officer, should have flagged the withdrawal for discrepancies.
The witness also told the court that his team’s investigation which uncovered the withdrawal of the sum from the Abuja branch of the bank, began with a probe of the internal control weaknesses in the CBN and featured interviews with internal audit staff.
He further disclosed that a letter from former President Muhammadu Buhari to then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha authorised the withdrawal of fund from the CBN for election observer logistics and that a follow-up letter from Mustapha to Emefiele, introduced and authorised one Jibril Abubakar to collect the money on behalf of the federal government.
Furthermore, that a letter from the bank’s Director of Banking Supervision to the Branch Controller, authorised the release of the fund and named the individual to collect it.
He added that the bank’s official who received and processed the payment documents was redeployed to the CBN governor’s office, exactly 56 days after the transaction, without following normal procedure.
He also noted the fund left the CBN vault without economic benefits to the federal government, the CBN, or any foreign election observer mission. “The money was actually taken, but did not flow to the supposed beneficiaries,” he said, adding that there was no record showing that election observers ever received the funds.
The witness believed that Emefiele’s failure to flag the negative balance pointed to his awareness of the fraudulent transaction. “The money won’t leave without the governor’s approval,” he said.
Further in his testimony, he disclosed that part of the money has been recovered from one Bashir Maishanu, whom he said, confessed to the crime and returned $856,500 (Eight Hundred and Fifty-six Thousand, Five Hundred Dollars) to the special investigative team, arguing that the said Maishanu ought to stand trial alongside Emefiele.
He also disclosed that the Mustapha, the former SGF, whom he said, he interviewed personally, could not explain why the $6.2 million transaction was omitted from his handover notes on leaving office in May 2023, and also suggested that other officials, including CBN board members and the Abuja branch manager of the bank, ought to have also faced charges.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Matthew Burkaa, SAN, the witness confirmed that criminal charges had already been filed against Emefiele way back in September 2023, before he was directed by the President in December 2023 to come up with the offences against him.
He further revealed that all the persons the special investigative team interviewed in connection with the withdrawal of the sum denied involvement or knowledge of the transaction, including Emefiele, whom he said, was interviewed in the Kuje Correctional Centre.
In the course of the cross-examination, Justice Muazu ruled that the witness, not being a forensic document examiner, could not be asked to authenticate Emefiele’s signature on the exhibits tendered.
The matter was adjourned till October 20, 2026, for adoption of final addresses, while the defence counsel stated that he would file a no-case submission on behalf of Emefiele.
