Court hears how Emefiele 'blocked' Nigerians from forex access

The Ikeja Special Offences Court yesterday heard that former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele used his office to create systems that restricted ordinary Nigerians, especially foreign exchange operators, from accessing foreign currencies. The court also heard that he acquired multi-billion naira properties through proxies while in office.

An EFCC operative, Alvan Gurumnaan, gave the testimony before Justice Rahman Oshodi. Emefiele is facing a 19-count charge of alleged gratification, corrupt demands and abuse of office involving transactions valued at $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion. His co-defendant, Henry Omoile, is standing trial on a three-count charge of alleged unlawful acceptance of gifts.

Forex access and special arrangements

Gurumnaan, led in evidence by the Federal Director of Public Prosecution, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), said investigation revealed that Emefiele exploited his position as CBN governor to establish systems that made it difficult for ordinary Nigerians, especially those involved in foreign exchange transactions, to access foreign currencies without going through special arrangements. According to him, businessmen and women were made to bend to some special arrangements that Emefiele put in place before they could access the foreign exchange.

Oyedepo asked the witness to identify the extra-judicial statement of the first defendant, marked as Exhibit K-K32. The witness said the statement was recorded during the investigation. He added that Emefiele deliberately declined to make any statement when confronted with the findings of the investigative team.

First defence counsel Olalekan Ojo (SAN) objected. He argued that the counts relating to foreign exchange had been struck out and that the witness’s evidence on the issue was therefore irrelevant. Oyedepo opposed the objection, describing it as premature and arguing that the witness had not concluded his testimony. Justice Oshodi overruled the defence’s objection.

Cash, proxies and properties

Continuing his evidence, Gurumnaan told the court that a CBN employee, Monday Osazuwa, admitted that he received up to $17 million, which he allegedly handed over to the second defendant, who subsequently transferred the money to Emefiele. He alleged that the managing director of a company was compelled to make a payment before funds belonging to his company could be released to him.

“One of those examples was how a company had to pay millions of dollars to the first defendant through his staff member, Monday Osazuwa. “Osazuwa admitted to us in the course of the investigation that he received about $17 million from the company and gave it to the second defendant at a time. “The second defendant was the one who later took the money to the first defendant,” he said.

The witness said other courts had delivered judgments in favour of the commission on some of the properties, which Emefiele had reportedly admitted belonged to him. He said $2 million was recovered from the office of Ifeanyi Omeke, who allegedly served as secretary to several companies. According to him, the investigation also revealed that Emefiele allegedly used several associates to acquire properties beyond what his official earnings as CBN governor could reasonably support. Gurumnaan said some of the associates admitted to receiving money on his behalf.

“One of them is a lawyer, Ifeanyi Omeke, whose office our investigation led to, and over $2 million cash was recovered from him. “This same Omeke serves as a secretary to several companies, and he admitted to being a front for the first defendant.”

The properties listed included twin duplexes in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; two mansions on Queens Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos; a warehouse in Agbor, Delta State; and another warehouse in Ogun State, allegedly containing billions of naira. Others were a property on Adekunle Lawal Street, Lagos, comprising eight blocks of flats; a property in Ikoyi containing 94 luxury residential units; an industrial apartment under construction in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos; and an estate comprising 750 housing units in the Lokogoma District of Abuja.

“We also discovered that the first defendant was building a factory in his hometown in Agbor, Delta State, which has also been forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria,” Gurumnaan said. The witness said the warehouse contained several containers worth an estimated hundreds of billions of naira and there was an 11-storey building under construction, comprising about 94 luxury flats also belonging to Emefiele.

Defence objection overruled

Ojo and Omoile’s lead counsel, Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), argued that the testimony of the witness was not relevant to the charge before the court. In a short ruling, Justice Rahman Oshodi overruled the objection and held that the defendants would be at liberty to cross-examine the witness.

For Nigerian businesses and consumers, the testimony points to how forex access was allegedly used as a gatekeeping tool, with firms forced into special arrangements before they could get foreign currency. That matters for the naira because scarce dollars and discretionary access can distort costs for genuine importers and users.