Witness Details How Emefiele Transferred Funds to Wife

An Assistant Manager with Zenith Bank Plc, Mrs. Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, testified in an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Tuesday about how Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), transferred funds to his wife, Mrs. Margaret Emefiele.

Ogbonnaya detailed how Emefiele used the bank to move millions of naira in tranches to his wife through various companies. Emefiele is currently on trial for abuse of office and alleged involvement in $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud.

Led in evidence by EFCC counsel Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Ogbonnaya explained that the companies involved included Amswing Resources and Solution, Limelight Dimensional Service Ltd., Omec Support Service Ltd., and Mango Farm.

She revealed that Limelight managed CBN’s facilities and handled transactions related to power and maintenance, which were conducted by vendors.

Having joined Zenith Bank in 2006, Ogbonnaya said she never directly interacted with Emefiele but received instructions from his wife to transfer funds from CBN to their private companies via Zenith Bank accounts. Besides Mrs. Emefiele, she also received directives from two others, Mr. John Ogah and the late Mr. Opeyemi Oludimu.

Ogbonnaya managed the various company accounts involved in the multimillion-naira transfers, with Mrs. Margaret Emefiele being the direct beneficiary of these accounts. All transactions were confirmed by Mrs. Emefiele before processing.

The court heard that from March 9 to 11, 2015, the accounts received N18.9 million and N1.8 million from CBN. Subsequent transfers included N43 million on February 22, 2021, N37.3 million on July 21, 2022, N44.6 million on October 21, 2022, and N93.1 million on May 10, 2023.

Ogbonnaya communicated with Mrs. Emefiele through email, phone calls, and WhatsApp to confirm transaction details before processing. She added that documents detailing the transactions were printed from her office desktop computer.