Witness at Emefiele’s trial alleged that CBN officials demanded $600k bribe to process payment of executed contract

Victor Onyejiuwa, the managing director of The Source Computers Limited, has testified against the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, at the Lagos high court.

Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are currently facing trial on a 26-count charge of abuse of office.

The former CBN governor and Omoile pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

At the court hearing on Thursday, May 9, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) presented Onyejiuwa as the fourth witness in the case against Emefiele.

Onyejiuwa told the court that his company — The Source Computers Limited — provided information and communication technologies assistance to the apex bank between 2014 and 2019. The witness said the CBN awarded at least five contracts to his company during the period. He added that in 2017, the apex bank awarded an “enterprise storage and servers” contract to his firm.

Onyejiuwa claimed after the contract was executed, he was approached by John Ikechukwu Ayoh, a former director at the apex bank, that the “management needs something” from the contract. Onyejiuwa alleged Ayoh told him that if he did not accede, the funds meant for the contract would not be approved by the management.

“After the contract had been executed, I was accosted by Mr John, saying the management was requesting something from the transaction,” he told the court.

“He said there was pressure on him. I told him that our payment was being delayed. He told me that if I don’t accede to his request, my payment will not be approved.

“After several back and forth for him to see reasons with me on why I needed to get paid and my obligations with my partners, I succumbed to his pressure.

“I was able to organise the sum of $400k and $200k to facilitate payment of the contract funds. Within two or three weeks after, payment was made. That is what happened.

“I was pressured to give the money. I will appreciate it if the money is recovered by the court.”

Asked by the EFCC counsel to mention the amount allocated for the contracts, he said that the highest contract sum was $1.2 billion in late 2017 when naira traded at N360/$ at the forex market.

The witness added that he was awarded contracts for $2.1 million, N340,000, and N17 million by the CBN.

After Onyejiuwa’s testimony, Olalekan Ojo, Emefiele’s counsel, asked for an adjournment to cross-examine the witness in the next court sitting.

Rahman Oshodi, the trial judge, adjourned the case to May 17 for the cross-examination of the witness.