A contractor with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Victor Onyejiuwa, on Thursday, told the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja how he was pressured to pay $600,000 before he was paid for a contract.
Onyejiuwa, the Managing Director of Resource Computer Limited, testified in the ongoing trial of the former CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele.
The embattled Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are currently facing trial on 26 counts, bordering on abuse of office alleged $4.5bn and N2.8bn fraud.
The former CBN governor and Omoile pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
A contractor with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Victor Onyejiuwa, on Thursday, told the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja how he was pressured to pay $600,000 before he was paid for a contract.
Onyejiuwa, the Managing Director of Resource Computer Limited, testified in the ongoing trial of the former CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele.
The embattled Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are currently facing trial on 26 counts, bordering on abuse of office alleged $4.5bn and N2.8bn fraud.
The former CBN governor and Omoile pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
According to him, sometime in 2017, he got an ‘enterprise storage and servers’ from the CBN and after executing the job, he was approached by a senior official who told him that his payment would not be approved if he did not pay certain sums.
“The official said there was pressure on him. I told him that our payment was being delayed. He told me that if I didn’t accede to his request, my payment would not be approved.
“After several back and forths, I succumbed to his pressure. I was able to organise the sum of $400,000 and $200,000 to facilitate payment of the contract funds.
“Within two or three weeks after, the payment was made. That is what happened,” the witness said.
When asked by Oyedepo to mention the amount that was allocated to the contracts executed for the CBN, he said the highest contract sum was N1.2bn in 2017 and late 2018 when the naira traded at N360/$1.
He also told the court that there were other small payments of N24m and N17m.
He, however, said he did not bother himself about the identity of those whom the official said put pressure on him, adding that at that time, all that was important was for him to get the payment.
“I have read the documents dated March 2024 and I admit the original certified copy of the bundles of documents which include account opening package, statement of accounts into evidence and are marked as exhibit A,” Justice Oshodi said.
Ngolu, in his evidence-in-chief, said his department responded to regulators and law enforcement agencies to ensure that bank activities were in line with bank policies and regulations.
He added that his department worked with agencies like EFCC, Nigeria Police, ICPC and NSCDC.
The witness said that sometime in 2014, his department got a request from the EFCC to furnish it with statements of accounts of Limelight and two other accounts and it duly furnished the anti-graft with the request.
“The documents we sent to the EFCC were duly signed by the staff of the bank,” he said.
