Kemisola Oye
JUSTICE Rahman Oshodi of a Lagos Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja yesterday (Friday) granted the request of the defence to recall the first prosecution witness in the alleged abuse of office and multi-billion case against the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele.
When the case was called, the counsel to Mr Emefiele’s co-defendant, Mr Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN) notified the court of a Motion on Notice dated 6 May 2024 and sought the indulgence of the court to recall Mr Monday Osazuwa,
Osazuwa had on 12 April 2024 given evidence of how the embattled former apex bank governor, on different occasions, directed him to collect three million dollars cash in tranches.
Justice Oshodi granted the application of Mr Gbadamosi to recall the witness, particularly as the counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) raised no objection to the application.
The court held: “In the Motion on Notice dated 6th May and filed on 7th May, the second defence counsel seeks an order to recall the first prosecution witness (PW1)
“The second defence counsel seeks to further cross-examine PWI on matters listed in paragraph 4 D on the affidavit in support of the application.
“The recall was also premised on nine grounds and the six-paragraph affidavits were filed in support of the application and equally is a written address filed on 7th May.
“The prosecution did not file a rebuttal and I hereby grant the application,”
EFCC counsel then prayed the court for leave to further examine the fourth prosecution witness, a contractor who had started his evidence-in-chief on 9th May and the leave was granted by the court.
The witness, in the continuation of his examination-in-chief, told the court that there was an error in his extra-judicial statement regarding the location where the $600,000 was given to the second prosecution witness, a former Director of Information Technology of CBN, Mr John Ayoh,
According to him, the sum of $400,000 was given to Ayoh in Lagos while $200,000 was given to him in Abuja.
Under cross-examination by Emefiele’s counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN), the witness said he wrote the statement in the presence of his lawyer, Mr Olukayode Enitan (SAN) but became aware of the error much later.
He confirmed to the court that there were only two errors in his statement and that he was released to his lawyer after he wrote the extra-judicial statement.
According to him: “Apart from the two errors, there are no other errors in my statement but there are omissions because I wrote 2014 to 2018 instead of 2014 to 2020.
“As a businessman with over 20 years of experience, I know I have a civic duty not to give bribes to anybody and I know that I have duties to report anyone that offers bride but I did not report because I was under serious pressure from my partners to pay them.
“I was paid the money in December 2018 and upon receiving the money, my partners stopped putting pressure on me.
“Although between 2018 and 2024 when the pressure had gone, I did not report the issue of bribe to EFCC and my primary reason for being here is not for the recovery of my money.”
The witness further informed the court that his partners were not stakeholders in his company but were Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM).
He also confirmed he did not write in his extra-judicial statement that his partners pressurized him but he said it in his evidence-in-chief.
The judge adjourned the case until 9 July 2024 for the continuation of trial.
Eighteen-Eleven Media