Court To Rule In Witness’ Eligibility To Testify Against Emefiele
Justice Hamza Muazu of an Abuja High Court on Wednesday, adjourned until Nov. 27 for ruling on the eligibility of a witness of the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF) to testify in the trial of the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele is being prosecuted before the court by the OAGF in the case marked CR/577/2023.
He was dragged to court on an amended 20-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, conferring corrupt advantage, forgery, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence while he was CBN governor.
He was alleged to have, among others, used his position as CBN governor to have awarded six different contracts for the supply of different vehicles to April 1616, in which one Sa’adatu Ramalan Yaro, a member of staff of CBN, is a director and shareholder, between 2018 and 2022, to the tune of N1.2 billion, among other allegations.
Emefiele, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him.
At the resumed hearing of the case, Emefiele, through his counsel, Mathew Burkaa SAN, objected to the prosecution calling its 11th witness (PW11), Alvan Grumman, to testify in the matter.
He based his argument on the fact that the witness’s name was included in the additional proof of evidence dated October 15, 2024, filed by the prosecution, which the court struck out in its ruling of March 20.
He told the court that the prosecution had sought its leave to appeal the decision to strike out the additional proof of a witness.
He added through a motion marked M/4626/25 that the prosecution had initiated vertical proceedings, and as such, the witness could not testify in the case.
According to him, it was an abuse of court proceedings for the prosecution to take both a vertical and a horizontal approach by filing an appeal against the court’s March 20 ruling.
Responding, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, told the court that in the defendant’s motion, which the court ruled on on March 20, did not mention Grumman but specifically was against Tommy Odama and Ifeanyi Omeke.
According to him, the witness had the material fact of the case being the investigator who investigated the matter.
He subsequently urged the court to refuse the defence’s objection to Grumman giving evidence in the case.
After listening to parties’ arguments on allowing the witness to testify or not, Justice Muazu adjourned until Nov. 27 to rule on the objection and continuation of the hearing.
Earlier, Oyedepo had told the court that the prosecution filed two separate applications for the subpoena of two witnesses to testify before the court.
According to him, the witnesses, Tommy Odama and Ifeanyi Omeke, both had material facts in custody to aid the court in the just determination of the case.
He also assists the prosecution in prosecuting its case.
Oyedepo said that the court was yet to respond to the application.
Responding, the counsel for Emefiele urged the court to refuse the applications, arguing that all parties were bound by the court’s decision in its ruling of March 20.
He added that having proceeded on appeal, the prosecution could no longer come back to the court to seek the same prayers before the appellate court.
He further told the court that the said subpoenas were filled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and not by the OAGF, which filed the charges against his client before the court.
The court subsequently reserved ruling on the applications for subpoena.