John Adetola, who served as the personal assistant to Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), provided testimony in the ongoing trial of Emefiele.
Gatekeepers News reports that Adetola appeared in the Ikeja special offences court in Lagos, where Emefiele is facing charges of alleged abuse of office. He has been accused of misappropriating significant funds, including $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion, during his tenure.
The trial is being conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), with Emefiele’s co-defendant, Henry Omoile, also facing charges related to the unlawful acceptance of gifts by agents.
During the proceedings, Rotimi Oyedepo, the EFCC counsel, explained that Adetola’s role as a personal assistant provided him with direct access to Emefiele and involved managing official correspondence and visitors to the former governor.
In his testimony, Adetola recalled an encounter with the EFCC in February 2023, where he was interviewed regarding his relationship with Emefiele. He disclosed that in 2018, he was instructed to collect $400,000 in cash from John Ayoh, a former director at CBN, on behalf of Emefiele.
“In 2018, Mr Eric Odoh, the personal assistant to the governor in Abuja, sent a message to me that I should go and meet Mr John Ayoh, the former director of ICT department to collect $400,000 and give it to the CBN governor,” Adetola said.
“I went to Mr Ayoh’s house in Lekki and he gave me the envelope.
“I came back to the office and gave the envelope to the governor.”
In April, Ayoh had told the court that he collected money from contractors as gratification, following Emefiele’s directives.
Ayoh said he collected $600,000 in kickbacks which was handed to Emefiele’s personal assistants.
During his testimony, Adetola added that he communicated with Emefiele via phone, email, office line and verbally whenever he was around.
The witness identified bundles of documents showing official communication between him and the ex-CBN governor.
He confirmed documents showing his communication with Ayoh and Eric Odoh, personal assistant to the governor in Abuja.
The prosecution sought to tender the bundles of documents for identification.
Olalekan Ojo, Emefiele’s counsel, did not object.
However, Adeyinka Kotoye, counsel to the second defendant, objected and argued that the documents had no basis in law.
In his response, Oyedepo said the documents were relevant and were essential ingredients in the case.
“The documents are for the purpose of identification,” he said.
Delivering the ruling, Rahman Oshodi, the presiding judge, accepted the documents after considering the submissions of the parties.
Oshodi adjourned the case to December 10 for cross-examination of the witness.
