By Nkechi Eze
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is setting the record straight about the testimony of its 10th witness in the ongoing trial of a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
According to a statement signed on Tuesday by Dele Oyewale, the commission’s spokesperson, in the false narrative, prosecution witness, Salawu Gana, was reported as justifying the vehicle procurement contracts awarded during Emefiele’s tenure contrary to the case of alleged contract irregularities alleged in the charges against him.
Dele stated that Gana was said to have testified that procurement processes in awarding the contracts adhered strictly to legal and regulatory guidelines. This is far from the truth. Rather, the witness on Monday, February 3, 2025 told a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, presided over by Justice Hamza Muazu that the contract awards for the procurement of vehicles by the CBN was swayed in favour of April 16 16 owing to leakages of bidding information to the company.
Gana, former head of procurement department at the CBN, while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, revealed in his testimony that quotations for procurement of vehicles were received from three motor companies: RT. Briscoe, Globe Motors and April 1616 eventually lifted the contract because the company had fore knowledge of bids made by the two other competing companies and therefore patterned its bid to be lower for it to lift the contract.
“We initiated the procurement process, we asked the various dealers to submit their quotations like Globe Motors, RT. Briscoe and April 1616, then April 1616 was provided a guide to the in-house estimate and then they all submitted their quotations. April 1616 bided N69 million, RT Briscoe N77,050,000, Globe motors N77, 179,999. So the in-house estimate was N69, 750,000 making April 1616 to have the lowest bid to win the award” he said.
He further revealed that the guide was not provided to the other bidders and the procurement was then approved by the defendant.
Meanwhile, Emefiele, through his counsel, Matthew Burkaa, applied to the court to stop EFCC from calling additional witnesses after the 10 witnesses listed on the proof of evidence was cross examined and discharged.
Burkaa, while moving the application, argued that the anti-graft agency had tendered all necessary documents relating to the alleged procurement fraud charges against his client, adding that permitting it to call additional witnesses would overreach the court.
Oyedepo opposed the application in a counter affidavit on the grounds that the right of EFCC to a fair hearing would be breached, praying the court to reject the application in the interest of justice.
Justice Muazu adjourned the matter to March 20, 2024 for ruling on the application.
Emefiele is standing trial in a 20-count amended charge bordering on conferment of corrupt advantages, criminal breach of trust forgery, conspiracy, and obtaining money by false pretences to the tune of $6,230,000.00.
