CBN under Emefiele pressured me to pay $600,000 bribe - Witness

A witness, Victor Onyejiuwa, has told the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja how he was pressured to pay a bribe of $600,000 to for the award of a contract from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under embattled former governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Onyejiuwa who is a contractor and Managing Director of The Source Computers Limited, also told the court that he made some other smaller payments of N24 million and N17m to CBN.

Onyejiuwa was led in evidence by the Counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) on Friday.

The contractor also informed the court that his company offers services to both private and public enterprises.

“My company deploys hardware and software-tailored solutions that address Security, Network, Storage, Backup Solutions, Data Protection and Recovery, Virtualization, Data Center Solutions, ICT Training & Education Services and a host of other ICT needs,” he said.

“My company also offers services mostly to banks such as First Bank, Sterling Bank, and some Oil and Gas companies.”

Onyejiuwa also told the court that his company offered information and communication technologies services to CBN between 2014 and 2019.

According to him, his company got at least five contracts within the stipulated period, adding that sometime in 2017, the Apex Bank also awarded his form an “enterprise storage and servers” contract.

Onyejiuwa told the court that following the execution of the contract, a former CBN director, John Ayoh, who testified as the second prosecution witness approached him that the “management needs something” from the contract.

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

“He 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 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.”

After Onyejiuwa had testified, counsel to Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), asked for an adjournment to enable him cross-examine the witness at the next court sitting.

Justice Rahman Oshodi adjourned the case till May 17, 2024, for cross examination of the witness and for continuation of trial.

Justice Oshodi also gave Emefiele permission to file an appeal against his decision (at the appeal court), deferring ruling on the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter.

The leave was sequel to Emefiele’s insistence that the Ikeja High Court lacked the jurisdiction to try him on the grounds that the matter at hand bordered on foreign exchange, which is on the Exclusive List of the constitution.