Fresh Trouble For Emefiele As Insider Reveals Another Illegal Deal He Did

The embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has landed in another controversy.

This is as he has been accused of illegally awarding some contracts running into over a billion Naira. Specifically, a witness who is an insider revealed that Emefiele awarded 45 contracts worth N1.2 billion.

The third prosecution witness, Oluwole Owoeye, head of the secretariat of the Major Contract Tender Committee (MCTC), disclosed in the trial that all the 45 contracts awarded by Emefiele did not go through the Contract’s Tender Committee of the bank.

“Any contract in excess of N10 million must go through MCTC; however, the award of the contracts, though within the threshold of the contract that ought to have gone through MCTC, did not go through the committee.”

”The witness also explained that when contractors submit their bids, it is the responsibility of the committee to vet the companies by ensuring that the particulars of directors are disclosed to the bank, so as to prevent the award of contracts to companies in which any staff of the CBN is a director. All these requirements that MCTC would have ensured that they are met were circumvented as the contracts did not go through the committee,” said Dele Oyewale, the spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Recall that the EFCC arraigned Emefiele on Friday, November 17, 2023, on six counts charges bordering on procurement fraud.

At the proceedings, prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, called three witnesses, including Owoeye.

The other two witnesses are Samsideen Romanus, an official of the Corporate Affairs Commission, and Remigious Ugwu, a compliance officer with a commercial bank.

Justice Muazu thereafter adjourned proceedings in the matter to January 18 and 19, 2024.