Agboro Omowera, a witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, testified before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama on Monday.

He said that ten representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria, among them the former governor, Godwin Emefiele, had minuted the paperwork pertaining to the multi-million contract award to April 1616 and Architekon Nigeria Limited.

The EFCC charged Emefiele with abusing his position to give his brother-in-law and wife, Margret, illicit advantages by authorizing the transfer of N97.9 million to Architekon Nigeria Ltd., a company in which both of them are directors.

The anti-graft agency claims that the N97.9 million contract was for the provision of office furniture to the CBN.

The defendant’s attorney, Mathew Burkaa (SAN), cross-examined the seventh prosecution witness, the investigator, who claimed that ten people had acted upon the paperwork used to award the contracts.

He added that the bill stopped at Emefiele’s table, being the CBN governor at the time.

He said, “Ten persons acted on the documents awarding these contracts.

“There are 10 minutes and one approval, so one person takes the responsibility.

“He (Emefiele) is the head of the CBN and the buck stops at his table.”

The witness said, “No,” when Burkaa questioned if Emefiele had given himself a corrupt advantage. “We only looked into his family and friends, not him, which is why I had to say no.”

Earlier, Omowera told the court during his evidence presentation by Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the EFCC’s attorney, that the results of his investigations demonstrated that Emefiele gave Architekon Nigeria Limited and April 1616 an unfair and corrupt advantage.

He claims that Margaret Omoyile, Emefiele’s wife, is listed as an Archtekon Nigeria Limited director.

He also mentioned that Emefiele’s wife registered the business using her maiden name.

According to Omowera, Sa`adatu Yaro, a CBN staff member, was also identified as a director of April 1616 Investment Ltd.

He claims that the company was given numerous contracts worth between N854,700,000 and N99,900,000 for the supply of more than 45 Toyota Hilux cars.

He continued by saying that his investigation team, which included representatives from several organizations, including the Department of State Services, also discovered that Yaro’s husband owned several businesses, but all of them were not supported by the CBN except the one where the wife served as a director.

Omowera said, “In the second company, April 1616 Investment Limited, we also discovered that one of the directors of that company by name, Sahadatu Ramalan Yaro, was a director of April 1616 Investment.

“We discovered that the company was incorporated a few days after her employment with the CBN and she was posted to CBN Lagos office.

“In 2018, the company started to enjoy the patronage of the CBN in the procurement of particular vehicles, Toyota branded motors.

“During the period that the defendant was, this company was awarded about 45 different contracts

“My Lord, we were curious as investigators, how it was possible for a company that has no track record to continually win bids against Toyota-accredited bids.

“We tried to confirm whether this company was accredited by Toyota and to our surprise, it was not among the accredited bidders.”

The trial judge, Hamza Muazu subsequently adjourned the matter till April 25 for the continuation of the trial.

On the 10th of February 2024, the EFCC declared Emefeile’s wife and three others wanted for allegedly conspiring with the former CBN governor to steal huge sums of money belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria.