The immediate-past Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said on Tuesday that $6.2m was released from the Central Bank of Nigeria in February 2023 using a forged document.
The money, he said, was released for foreign observers ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Mustapha stated this when he appeared as the fourth prosecution witness in the ongoing fraud trial of the immediate-past CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, before the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja.
The EFCC arraigned Emefiele on amended 20 counts bordering on forgery, criminal conspiracy, conferring undue advantage, and breach of trust, among others.
Specifically, the EFCC accused Emefiele of impersonating the SGF to illegally obtain a sum of $6.2m from the CBN.
The EFCC alleged that on February 8, 2023, Emefiele connived with one Odoh Ocheme, who is now on the run, to obtain $6.2m from the CBN, claiming that it was requested by the SGF “vide a letter dated 26th January 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201.”
According to the EFCC, Emefiele allegedly claimed that the SGF requested the CBN to release “a contingent logistic advance for $6,230,000.00 in line with Mr. President’s directive.”
The anti-graft agency alleged that Emefiele, in January 2023, forged a document titled: “RE: PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE ON FOREIGN ELECTION OBSERVER MISSIONS,” dated 26 January 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201.
At the resumed trial on Tuesday, the ex-SGF was led in evidence by the EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).
Mustapha told the court that the document with which the $6.2m was moved out of the CBN came neither from his office nor from the office of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mustapha said, “All through my service year as the SGF, I never came across these documents claimed to have been signed by Buhari. From the face value of this document, having served for five years and seven months as SGF, this document did not emanate from the President for the following reasons:
“A correspondence that has the seal of the Nigerian President does not carry a reference number. The seal is the authority.
“Secondly, I have looked at it and read the document. FEC decisions are not transmitted by letters. They are transmitted through extracts after conclusions are adopted.
“Thirdly, I am the custodian of FEC; the President will not refer executives’ conclusions to me.
Also, in all the five years and seven months, I never heard of the terms ‘special appropriation provision’ referred to. The term known to me, My Lord, is ‘appropriation’ as provided by the Appropriation Act normally passed by the National Assembly and when the government finds a gap it brings supplementary appropriation.
“In all the correspondences I have received from Buhari, it has never had ‘please accept the assurance of my highest regard’. I am his subordinate, my correspondences do not carry that.
“And lastly, looking at the signature, it is a failed attempt at reproducing Buhari’s signature. I will leave that to the experts.”
Mustapha also told the court that the Federal Government had no business with foreign election observers.
He said, “Nigerian government has no business with foreign election observers. I have managed two election cycles and I know that for a fact. INEC has the sole responsibility for that. “
Furthermore, the ex-SGF pointed out that the approval for the $6.2m was never on the agenda of the Federal Executive Council held on January 18, 2023, and could not have been approved.