Monday Osazuwa, a prosecution witness, told a Lagos Special Offences Court in Ikeja yesterday that he did not maintain any documentation of the money he purportedly collected as bribes on behalf of Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeira, or CBN, who is currently on trial for alleged money laundering and abuse of office, along with a man named Henry Omoile.

In his evidence-in-chief on April 12, 2024, dispatch rider Osazuwa had earlier informed the court that he had received more than $3 million in bribe money in several installments on Emefiele’s behalf.

In response to enquiries from Mr. Olalekan Ojo, Emefiele’s attorney, following the court’s approval of a request to recall him for additional re-examination, Osazuwa informed the court yesterday that he did not possess the records of the purported bribe money, claiming that Emefiele had told him not to retain any documentation of such transactions.

When asked if he ever provided the operatives with any written orders from Emefiele during his unofficial assignment for the first defendant, he said that he did so in his statement to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC.

When asked if he gave the EFCC any records of the money he received for Emefiele, he said, “No document is produced.” I was instructed by the first defendant to keep whatever I wrote down.

Additionally, the witness stated that he lacked a document from either the first or second defendants attesting to the money he had received.

When asked if he understood the value of recording financial transactions, the witness stated that he did not maintain any records but that they were necessary for future reference and record keeping.

He stated, “I followed the instructions using the money I collected for him, and I did not produce any records.”

The defence attorney then requested that the witness be provided with the extrajudicial statements he gave before the EFCC on February 13, 15, and 23, 2024, in order to help him remember them.

Osazuwa added, “I didn’t state it in my statement, but he instructed me not to record it,” after reviewing the statement. He told me to go straight ahead and give it to the second defendant whenever he wasn’t present.

When asked how long he had been in the EFCC’s custody, he said that he had been held for a week before being released on bond.

When Osazuwa gave the money to the first defendant (Emefiele), he informed the court that there was no witness there.

Adeyinka Kotoye, SAN, the second defence attorney, questioned the witness to elaborate on his testimony when he said that he and the other defendant counted the money in the envelope he collected for Emefiele during cross-examination. “The money was counted by Mr. Raja,” he stated.

At the end of her testimony, the fifth prosecution witness, Mrs. Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, a business relationship manager with Zenith Bank Plc, stated that she provided the regulators with the Comec, Limelight, and Amswin Resources Limited statements of accounts that were addressed to Mrs. Margaret Emefiele (Emefiele’s wife).

She added that, out of all the documents that Zenith Bank sent her, none of them had any information relating to Emefiele.

Additionally, Ogbonnaya informed the court that she had no contact with Henry Isioma-Omoile, the second defendant.

After she finished testifying, Justice Rahman Oshodi postponed the case until tomorrow so that the trial may continue.