Emefiele:Witness Alleges $6.2m Withdrawal Pushed CBN Account Into Deficit

A prosecution witness on Friday told the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja that the alleged withdrawal of $6.2 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) without the required naira backing pushed one of the bank’s special dollar accounts into a deficit of N2.858 billion, as the trial of former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele continued.

According to a post on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) official X page, the disclosure was made by the 15th prosecution witness, Jim Osayande Obazee. The anti-graft agency said Obazee testified that the funds, purportedly approved for foreign election observers during the 2023 general election, were released without the mandatory naira backing required for foreign currency transactions.

Obazee, a special investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu to probe the CBN and related government entities, told Justice Hamza Muazu that the withdrawal pushed the bank’s internal staff and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) dollar account into a negative balance of N2,858,150,196.42. He said the anomaly should have prompted an immediate investigation by Emefiele and the bank’s chief accounting officer.

The witness further testified that the cash left the Abuja branch on February 3, 2023, without documentation identifying the officer who received it. He added that the transaction should have appeared in the CBN’s 2022 financial statements, signed in May 2025, and should also have been detected by the bank’s internal auditors and external auditors, Ernst & Young.

Read Also: How $6.23m Was Withdrawn From CBN Using Forged Documents — Witness Testifies in Emefiele Trial

Obazee also told the court that the CBN’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) portal was reportedly non-functional for more than a month before the withdrawal, making it impossible for the recipient to complete the standard identification process before collecting the money.

> “Nobody will allow you leave the bank until the account is balanced,” Obazee told the court, insisting that Emefiele, as the bank’s chief accounting officer, ought to have identified and questioned the discrepancies.

He said the investigation began with a review of weaknesses in the CBN’s internal control system and included interviews with internal audit officials.

Obazee further testified that former President Muhammadu Buhari approved the release of the funds through a letter to then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, for election observer logistics. He said Mustapha subsequently wrote to Emefiele, introducing Jibril Abubakar as the authorised recipient, while a separate approval from the Director of Banking Supervision instructed the Abuja branch controller to release the funds.

The witness also alleged that the CBN official who processed the payment documents was transferred to the governor’s office just 56 days after the transaction without following normal administrative procedures.

According to Obazee, the funds left the CBN vault without benefiting the Federal Government, the apex bank or any foreign election observer mission.

> “The money was actually taken, but did not flow to the supposed beneficiaries,” he said, adding that investigators found no record showing that any election observers received the money.

Obazee maintained that Emefiele’s failure to question the negative account balance suggested he was aware of the transaction.

> “The money won’t leave without the governor’s approval,” he told the court.

He also disclosed that part of the funds had been recovered from one Bashir Maishanu, who allegedly confessed to the crime and returned $856,500 to investigators. Obazee argued that Maishanu should also be standing trial alongside Emefiele.

The witness added that former SGF Boss Mustapha could not explain why the $6.2 million transaction was omitted from his handover notes when he left office in May 2023. He also suggested that other officials, including members of the CBN board and the Abuja branch manager, should have been prosecuted.

During cross-examination, defence counsel Matthew Burkaa (SAN) established that criminal charges had already been filed against Emefiele in September 2023, before Obazee was appointed in December 2023 to investigate the matter.

Obazee also confirmed that all those interviewed during the investigation, including Emefiele, denied any involvement or knowledge of the transaction. He said Emefiele was interviewed while in custody at the Kuje Correctional Centre.

Justice Muazu ruled that Obazee, not being a forensic document examiner, could not authenticate Emefiele’s signature on documents tendered before the court.

The case was adjourned until October 20, 2026, for the adoption of final written addresses, while the defence indicated it would file a no-case submission on behalf of the former CBN governor.