Increase in minimum capital requirements for Nigerian banks – Part 3

I recall that in 2020, when he was outside Lagos, he called me and said that he would give me a number, that a man had something I should collect from him, and that the man would give me the number of another person.

When I got to the man’s office, I was given an envelope. I counted the money, and the man said I should give it to my boss,” he said.

The witness further told the court that the first defendant used to collect money by himself anytime he was in Lagos, but anytime the defendant was not around, he would tell him to give the money to the second defendant.

Osazuwa added that Emefiele sent him to MINL Limited. when he was with Zenith Bank.

Read also: Increase in minimum capital requirements for Nigerian banks

“This company is situated at Isolo; the first defendant did send me to collect checks from the company from Mr. Monday, and when I collected the check from Mr. Monday, I would give it back to Emefiele, and he would lodge the money into Dummies Oil and Gas.”

According to him, Emefiele’s co-defendant, Henry Isioma-Omoile, lived in the residence of the former CBN governor.

He stated that when he collected money for his boss, he would take it to his residence at Iru Close, Ikoyi.

“Whenever I received the money and took it to my boss’s residence, Mr. Emefiele would tell me to give it to the second defendant whenever he was not at home.

I did not keep a record of transactions because the instruction he gave me was that I should collect the money and bring the money to his house.

The highest amount I collected was one million dollars, all in cash, and some weeks later, the businessman also called me to collect $850,000, $750,000, and $400,000 in cash in tranches.

I have never been rewarded, paid, or given anything because I am doing it out of faithfulness, and he knows it, but he has never for once said, ‘Take this’,” he said.

Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Mr. Abdulakeem Labi-Lawal, the witness confirmed to the court that he had been working with the defendant since 2002.

According to the witness, Emefiele passed instructions to him through the second defendant and said that he had been collecting checks for Dumies Oil and Gas.

He, however, told the court when he was made to confront the second defendant during the investigation, but the second defendant failed to admit it.

“I started collecting checks for Dumies Oil and Gas when I was at Zenith Bank.

I cannot calculate the exact year I have been collecting the checks, but it all started when the first defendant was the Managing Director at Zenith Bank and I was working at Zenith Bank,” he said.

According to the late Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe:

“If money were to be found in the trees,

Most people would be married to monkeys.”

India takes great pride (having dispensed with the services of the “Big 4” accounting firms) in insisting that the accounts of the Central Bank of India should be audited by local firms.

Read also: Increase in minimum capital requirements For Nigerian banks (Part 2)

On November 10, 2023, it made the following announcement:

Change in Auditor:

“2023 to replace the two audit firms, i.e., Messrs. AKG & Associates and Messrs. Amit Ray & Co., as SCAs of the Bank for the financial year 2023–24, and asked to furnish the required details of two already shortlisted audit firms to facilitate their appointment as SCAs of the Bank for FY 2023–24. Details of the new SCAs of banks shall be intimated to the stock exchanges after receipt of RBI approval.”

We are still trying to digest the allegation that on the eve of the 2023 election, the signatures of then President Muhammadu Buhari and the Secretary to the Government, Mr Boss Mustapha, were forged regarding the withdrawal of U.S.$6.3 million from the vault of the Central Bank in order to pay gratification to international election observers.

As for the allegation that the former Governor of the Central Bank owned a gun, two Gregorians—one a Professor of Law at Leiden University, Netherlands, and the other a Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who is the grandson of a late entrepreneur (he owned a bakery)—have asked me to pass a very thoughtful message to their fellow Gregorians:

“The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria does not need to carry a gun or hold a gun to anybody’s head. He has plenty of tools at his disposal to turn the economy around. He should just stick to his core mandate.”

Montagu Norman was Governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944. To this day, he is the longest-serving governor of the Bank of England.

Norman played a critical role in rebuilding the International Monetary System after World War I.