A police commissioner has told an Abuja High Court that investigations into an alleged fraudulent withdrawal of $6.23m from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated the payment was made with the approval of former governor Godwin Emefiele.
Commissioner of Police Eloho E Ekpoziakpho gave evidence on Tuesday, 28 April 2026, before Justice Hamza Mu’azu at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Maitama.
Ekpoziakpho, who heads the Special Fraud Unit in Lagos, testified as Prosecution Witness 14 in Emefiele’s ongoing trial on an amended 20-count charge.
The charges include criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office and conspiracy to obtain by false pretence.
Led by prosecution counsel Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, the witness said he took part in interrogating the defendant with Jim Obazee, the special investigator appointed to probe the CBN.
“In the course of the investigation, we got intelligence on the 6.23 million dollars that was fraudulently taken from the CBN branch in Abuja that had the governor’s approval when the defendant was the governor,” he told the court.
He said inquiries showed the money was “fraudulently taken” and that some suspects questioned during the probe had confessed.
The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) denied requesting payment for foreign election observers, he added.
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Also, the witness identified a document said to be from the SGF that purportedly conveyed former President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval for the payment.
He described Exhibit PD6 as a letter dated 26 January 2023 forwarding presidential approval to the CBN to pay $6.23m to foreign election observers.
The letter, he added, was addressed to Emefiele as CBN governor.
“Our findings relating to that document showed that it was honoured. It was treated and the money was paid. We recovered the document from the CBN where the money was cashed,” Ekpoziakpho said.
He identified Exhibit PD1 as details of the dollar payment, stating that $6.23m was paid on 8 February 2023.
According to him, Exhibit PD2 was a memo from the CBN’s Director of Banking Services conveying approval and instructing payment.
Defence counsel Matthew Burkaa SAN objected under Section 128 of the Evidence Act, arguing the witness could not give evidence on documents supplied by the prosecution.
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Oyedepo countered that the documents were already admitted in evidence.
“Section 128 they have referred to did not prevent a witness from giving oral evidence explaining the document in line with the case before the court,” he said.
Justice Mu’azu ruled that because the documents were already before the court, the witness could be asked about them but could not read their contents.
Earlier, the witness said he assisted special investigator Jim Obazee by taking statements, interrogating persons allegedly involved, and providing intelligence.
The judge adjourned the case to 2 and 3 July 2026 for continuation of trial.