CBN Official Reveals How He Collected $3m Cash For Emefiele

CBN Official has revealed that he collected three million dollars in cash for Emefiele, delivering it according to Emefiele’s instructions.

Osazuwa handled large cash sums but was never compensated for his services.

In the ongoing trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, CBN official Mr. Monday Osazuwa testified at the Lagos Special Offences Court, Ikeja, about his involvement in collecting cash on behalf of Emefiele.

VerseNews reports that Osazuwa revealed that Emefiele instructed him to collect three million dollars in cash tranches and deliver it to him.

VerseNews gathered that Emefiele, who was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 23-count charge including abuse of office, accepting gratifications, and corrupt demands, pleaded not guilty along with his co-defendant, Henry Isioma-Omoile.

During the trial, Osazuwa recounted how he started working as a dispatch rider in Zenith Bank in 2001 and joined the CBN as a senior supervisor in 2014.

He explained, “I was still working in the CBN governor’s office while I was appointed as a full staff member and we usually communicated through WhatsApp and email. I function as a senior supervisor, recording and filing with other official roles.”

Osazuwa stated that in 2020, Emefiele called him with instructions to collect money from an individual and deliver it to him. “When I got to the man’s office, I was given an envelope. I opened it, it was money, counted the money, and the man said I should give it to my boss,” Osazuwa testified.

Osazuwa also disclosed that Emefiele would collect the money himself when in Lagos, but when unavailable, he instructed Osazuwa to deliver it to the second defendant, Isioma-Omoile.

He added that Emefiele once sent him to collect cheques from MINL Ltd. at Isolo and deliver them to him. The cheques were then deposited into Dumies Oil and Gas.

This Online News Platform learnt that Osazuwa confirmed during cross-examination by defense counsel Mr. Abdulakeem Labi-Lawal that he had been working with Emefiele since 2002 and carried out his instructions through the second defendant.

He further testified that he did not keep a record of transactions as his primary directive was to collect and deliver the money as instructed.

“Whenever I received the money and take it to my boss’s residence, Mr. Emefiele would tell me to give it to the second defendant whenever he was not at home,” Osazuwa said.

He noted that he never received any form of compensation for his tasks, stating, “I have never been rewarded, paid, or given anything because I am doing it out of faithfulness and he knows it but he has never for once said, ‘take this.’”

The court granted bail to Emefiele in the sum of N50 million with two sureties in a similar amount. Justice Rahmon Oshodi ruled on the bail application, and the next hearing is scheduled for April 29.