A prosecution witness, David Jaiyeoba, has told the court that he did not personally interrogate former Godwin Emefiele during the investigation into the allegations against him.
Recall that Emefiele is facing charges bordering on criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence while he served as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that the former CBN governor fraudulently obtained $6,230,000, which was reportedly meant for international election observers during the 2023 general election. The anti-graft agency also accused him of conferring corrupt benefits on two firms—April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd.
However, Emefiele has pleaded not guilty to all the charges brought against him.
Jaiyeoba, who appeared as the 12th prosecution witness (PW12), was cross-examined by Matthew Burkaa, SAN, counsel to Emefiele. During his testimony, he explained that the EFCC’s conclusions were based mainly on documentary evidence and statements obtained from suspects arrested during the investigation.
The witness further told the court that the defendant was not listed as a signatory, director, or shareholder of Archiketon Nigeria Limited.
He also stated that he never visited the residence of the former CBN governor, the alleged “Archiketon” renovation site mentioned in the case, or any other locations connected to the projects under investigation.
According to him, the EFCC’s findings regarding the renovation project were derived from statements provided by the company’s director.
Jaiyeoba added that although he knew a committee within the CBN was responsible for vetting and handling contract bidding processes, he could not recall the name of the committee.
He said that he did not interview the officers involved. “My team did the interviews .
“The Abuja team interacted with these officials due to proximity and distance.”
When asked whether Emefiele was a member of the Major Contract Tender Committee responsible for the procurement process, the witness responded: “I cannot remember.”
Burkaa subsequently questioned the witness about his understanding of the CBN’s procurement procedures, but Jaiyeoba insisted that he understood how the process works.
His response prompted Burkaa to ask again who in the CBN was responsible for determining whether a company was qualified to secure a contract. The witness replied, “I am not a staff, so I would not know.”
Burkaa then asked the witness about the properties he had mentioned in the previous court session.
Burkaa asked if he was aware that the Court of Appeal had overturned the forfeiture order for the properties and presented him with the judgment.
The witness said he was seeing it for the first time but affirmed that while the defendant contested the forfeiture order, he never made a claim to $2 million (part of the items listed for forfeiture) as his property.
In June 2025, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos set aside the forfeiture order and ordered a fresh hearing of the matter by the lower court.
Jaiyeoba then acknowledged that the EFCC was bound by the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
Burkaa further challenged him on why he tendered the code of conduct forms belonging to the defendant.
The witness noted that he was not aware of the judgment.
During the last proceedings, the witness said that the investigation began after a report was forwarded to the EFCC by the Inter-Agency Task Force led by the State Security Service (SSS).
On Burkaa requested that the report be brought to court. EFCC lawyer, A.O. Mohammed, did not object to the request.
The court also heard that Emefiele’s statement was obtained 73 days after the case had already been filed.
Earlier in March, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), tendered Emefiele’s extrajudicial statement through the witness.
Burkaa pointed out that the statements were written between 26 October and 2 November 2023, whereas the EFCC had filed the charges against Emefiele on 14 August 2023.
He then asked the witness “So you took the statements 73 days after filing the charges, you were still investigating the charges?”
The witness replied, “I am not aware of these dates.”
Similarly, Burkaa asked whether the defendant was confronted with Nweke’s statement to obtain his reaction, but the witness said this was not done.
The presiding judge, Hamza Muazu, subsequently adjourned the matter until Tuesday for the continuation of the trial.
