Nigeria: Witness in Emefiele trial says he never received money directly from former CBN governor
By Zuleihat Owuiye, Mamos Nigeria
ABUJA, Feb 17, 2026 — The trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele continued on Tuesday at the Federal Capital Territory High Court, with prosecution witness Richard Agulu, a former Zenith Bank staff now with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), testifying that he never received any funds directly from Emefiele.
Under cross‑examination by Emefiele’s counsel, Matthew Burkaa, Agulu stated that all payments he handled came through Emefiele’s personal assistant, Eric Ocheme. “I never received a dime directly from the defendant. I received the funds through his personal assistant, Eric Ocheme,” he said. He added that he never saw Emefiele hand money to Ocheme, but that instructions were passed by phone through Ocheme.
When shown his earlier extra‑judicial statement, Agulu admitted he had not mentioned phone instructions in that document, but maintained that “it was by his instructions.” The statement was admitted as Exhibit G.
Agulu, the third prosecution witness (PW‑3), explained that transactions he previously referenced were authenticated by the owners of Kelvito Integrated Services (Chukwuma Okpala) and Ifeadigo Integrated Services (Peter Adebayo). He said the transactions were carried out using banking instruments such as cheques, based on instructions from Ocheme, which were not in written form, email, or text.
He acknowledged that, according to CBN guidelines and Zenith Bank’s operational manual, staff are only permitted to act on formal communications, cheques, or in‑person instructions from an account holder. Neither Emefiele nor Ocheme was the account holder, which, he said, led him to include the owners’ names on deposit slips when cash was deposited into their accounts.
The court continues to hear evidence in the case, which centers on alleged financial misconduct involving large sums of money and property transactions linked to the former CBN governor.
