Godwin Emefiele, the embattled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), allegedly used associates and other fronts to acquire an extensive portfolio of properties across Nigeria, an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator has told a Lagos court.
Accorsding to the inveastigator, the properties include luxury homes in Lagos, an industrial park and an estate of more than 700 duplexes in Abuja.
The allegations emerged on Thursday at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, where the EFCC continued presenting evidence in the trial of Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, over an alleged $4.5 billion fraud.
The eighth prosecution witness, Alvan Gurumnaan, who led the investigative team handling the case, gave details of the properties allegedly linked to the former CBN governor during his testimony before Justice Rahman Oshodi.
According to the EFCC, Gurumnaan told the court that the properties were acquired through associates and were worth far beyond what Emefiele could legitimately afford from his earnings as CBN governor.
The assets identified by the witness cut across several locations, with some of the most valuable properties situated in high-end neighbourhoods in Lagos and Abuja.
They include two twin duplexes in Lekki Phase 1, two mansions on Queens Drive, Ikoyi, an unfinished factory in Agbor, Delta State, and a printing and minting company on Adekunle Lawal Street, Ikoyi.
The investigator also mentioned a warehouse in Ogun State containing containers said to be worth hundreds of billions of naira.
Other properties listed before the court included two-storey buildings comprising 94 luxury flats under construction, an industrial park and an estate in Abuja with more than 700 duplexes being developed.
EFCC says courts have ordered forfeiture of properties
Gurumnaan told the court that the properties identified during the investigation had been forfeited to the Federal Government following court judgments.
He maintained that several judicial decisions had already gone in favour of the EFCC, resulting in the recovery of assets allegedly linked to Emefiele.
The witness said: “My Lord, several courts have given judgments in favour of the EFCC, forfeiting assets and properties belonging to Emefiele. He accepted and came to court that the properties belong to him. We also discovered that the first defendant was building a factory in his hometown in Agbor, Delta State, which has also been forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“There is also a property, My Lord, on Adekunle Lawal Street in Ikoyi, Lagos, which the first defendant purchased. It had belonged to the Nigerian Printing and Minting Company, where he served as Chairman of the Board, and he sold the property to himself. The property, a block of eight flats in Ikoyi, has also been forfeited to the government. During our investigation, another warehouse belonging to the first defendant was recovered in Ogun State, on the outskirts of Lagos.”
The allegation involving the Adekunle Lawal Street property is particularly significant because the witness claimed that the building previously belonged to the Nigerian Printing and Minting Company, where Emefiele served as board chairman, before it was allegedly sold to him.
Gurumnaan said the property, which comprises eight flats in Ikoyi, had also been forfeited to the government.
He further told the court that investigators traced an unfinished factory to Emefiele’s hometown of Agbor in Delta State. According to the witness, that property was also among the assets forfeited to the Federal Government.
Emefiele’s lawyer challenges evidence on Agbor, Ikoyi properties
The testimony was not without objections from the defence.
Olalekan Ojo, counsel to Emefiele, urged Justice Oshodi to reject the evidence relating to the properties in Agbor and on Adekunle Lawal Street, Ikoyi.
His argument was that the properties were not listed in the charge currently before the court and should therefore not form part of the evidence being presented in the trial.
In response, prosecution counsel Rotimi Oyedepo, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, tendered a document containing a Supreme Court judgment for admission as an exhibit.
Oyedepo appeared alongside B. Bilkisu C. C. Okezie and Z. B. Atiku for the prosecution.
The court did not immediately resolve the disagreement over the document. Justice Oshodi adjourned the proceedings until Friday for a ruling on its admissibility and continuation of the trial.
The EFCC is prosecuting Emefiele through its Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 on a 19-count charge involving alleged receipt of gratification and corrupt demands during his time as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Omoile is standing trial alongside him as a co-defendant.
