Ohanaeze youths demand Tinubu to stop Emefiele’s illegal detention

Ohanaeze Youths Movement, a socio-cultural group, has urged President Bola Ahmed Bola to cease what it calls the continuing illegal imprisonment of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele and execute the existing Court decision on his release.

The trial of Emefiele began last Tuesday in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja, with three witnesses exonerating him of misconduct in the award of N1.2bn car supply contracts by CBN under his supervision.

The group said in a statement issued jointly by its founders, Obe Agu and Nwabueze Obi, that Emefiele’s exoneration by witnesses from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the court was obvious evidence that he was being pursued rather than prosecuted.

As a result, the organization demanded Emefiele’s release and a thorough prosecution procedure.

According to the statement, “Emefiele was put on trial by the Federal Government through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on six counts relating to alleged procurement procedure violations in the award of the contract to April1616 Investment Limited.” At the start of the trial, the first prosecution witness admitted that Emefiele was neither the owner or shareholder of April1616 Investment Limited, which was given the N1.2bn vehicle supply contract by CBN under Emefiele’s name.

“The witness, Samsideen Romanus, a top official of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), gave evidence on how the company was incorporated on August 1, 2016, and tendered several documents on how the company was floated.” He read out in front of the Court the names of the company’s shareholders, who included Aminu Idris Yaro, Maryam Aliyu Abdullahi, and Saadatu Ramalan Yaro as joint owners. While submitting many documents on how the firm was incorporated on August 1, 2016, Romanus, who was lead in evidence by EFCC counsel Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, stated that Emefiele’s name was not in any way related with the company.

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“The witness explained that, while CAC was responsible for the company’s incorporation, it has no role in the day-to-day operations of the entity.” The second witness, Remigious Ugwu, a Compliance Officer with Zenith Bank, told the court how the CBN paid various quantities of money in millions of naira into the April1616 Investment Limited. He specifically told Justice Hamza Muazu how CBN paid the same business N39,060,465, N421,953,488 on November 6, 2020, and N304,883,720 on November 23, 2020. He admitted that none of the payments were associated with Emefiele’s name, but said that he had no idea what the funds were for.

“The witness, who tendered various documents on behalf of the bank, stated that the former CBN governor was not a signatory to the company’s bank account.” The third witness, Oluwole Owoeye, a Deputy Director, Banking Services with the CBN and former Secretary to the CBN’s Major Contract Tendering Committee (MCTC), stated that his organization was responsible for ensuring compliance with the Procurement Act in contract awarding. Owoeye, on the other hand, informed the court that his committee was not involved in the vetting of bids for contract awards that led to Emefiele’s conviction. The witness explained that the bidding was handled by another committee since it exceeded the threshold of his own. The foregoing testimonies by these witnesses are convincing evidence that Emefiele was being witch-hunted.”