‘I Didn’t Collect Any Money From Emefiele’ – Prosecution Witness Testifies in Court

The trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, resumed on Tuesday with a prosecution witness telling the court that he never received funds directly from the former apex bank chief in connection with the controversial 753 Abuja duplexes case.

Testifying under cross-examination, the witness, Mr. Richard Agulu stated clearly that all funds he handled were received through Emefiele’s Personal Assistant, Mr. Eric Ocheme.

“I never received a dime directly from the defendant,” Agulu told the court. “I received the funds through his personal assistant, Eric Ocheme.”

Agulu, who previously worked with Zenith Bank Plc and now serves with the Nigeria Communications Commission, explained that his dealings were limited to Ocheme and not the former CBN governor personally.

When questioned by defence counsel, Mr. Matthew Burkaa (SAN), on whether he ever witnessed Emefiele hand money to Ocheme, the witness responded that he had not. However, he added that instructions were relayed through Ocheme, sometimes via phone calls.

He admitted that his earlier extrajudicial statement did not specifically mention phone communications but maintained that instructions were indeed conveyed to him through Ocheme.

Agulu further testified that the transactions he processed were authenticated by the account holders: Chukwuma Okpala of Kelvito Integrated Services and Peter Adebayo of Ifeadigo Integrated Services.

According to him, the transactions were executed using banking instruments, not through cheques, letters, emails, or text messages.

However, under further questioning, Agulu acknowledged that under Central Bank guidelines and Zenith Bank’s operational procedures, bank staff are expected to honour only formal instructions issued by the account holder, either via cheque or when the customer is physically present.

Since neither Emefiele nor Ocheme was the account holder in the transactions, the witness disclosed that he routinely included the names of the actual account owners on deposit slips to validate the process.

The testimony forms part of the prosecution’s case in the ongoing trial concerning funds allegedly linked to the development of 753 duplexes in Abuja, a matter that has continued to draw significant public attention over issues of financial accountability and compliance with banking procedures.

The case was adjourned for further hearing.