The trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria governor Godwin Emefiele resumed on Wednesday at the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, with fresh testimony outlining intricate cash movements and bank transfers allegedly running into billions of naira.
Emefiele is standing trial on an eight-count charge brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, bordering on criminal breach of trust, conspiracy, forgery and unlawful possession of properties suspected to be proceeds of crime valued at ₦7.83 billion.
Testifying as Prosecution Witness 3, Richard Agulu, a staff member of the Nigerian Communications Commission and former Zenith Bank employee, told Justice Yusuf Halilu that he handled large cash deposits and transfers on Emefiele’s instructions conveyed through Eric Ocheme, said to be the former CBN governor’s personal assistant.
Agulu said that while Emefiele had a personal account with Zenith Bank, the funds in question were not lodged there. Instead, he claimed the cash was warehoused in bank vaults or channelled through third-party accounts and disbursed strictly on instruction.
He identified one such account as Ifeabigo Integrated Services, owned by a friend, and detailed a series of deposits and transfers between 2020 and 2022. According to him, the transactions included repeated cash lodgements and electronic transfers, some running into hundreds of millions of naira.
The witness told the court that on August 25, 2021 alone, he transferred ₦600 million and ₦300 million from Ifeabigo Integrated Services to MG Properties Limited, and an additional ₦700 million from Kelvito Integrated Services, bringing the total transferred that day to ₦1.6 billion. He said he did not know the purpose of the payments at the time.
Agulu further testified that he was later questioned by the EFCC and confirmed that the transfers were made on instructions from Emefiele through Ocheme. Under cross-examination, he acknowledged that the withdrawals were authenticated by the account holders or authorised signatories.
Earlier, Prosecution Witness 2, Olomotam Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank, told the court that the bank responded to an EFCC request for records relating to Ace Frozen Foods Ventures. He confirmed that Emefiele’s name did not appear in the documents supplied, and that the account mandate listed two other individuals as signatories.
Justice Halilu adjourned the case to February 16, 2026, for continuation of trial and further cross-examination.
