The Second Prosecution Witness, PW2, in the ongoing trial of
former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, Boss Gida
Mustapha, on Tuesday February 13, 2024 told Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal
Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Maitama, Abuja, that neither
former President Muhammadu Buhari nor himself raised a memo
directing the apex bank to pay the sum of $6,230,000 (Six Million, Two Hundred
and Thirty Thousand Dollars) in cash for international election observers in
the last 2023 general election.
Mustapha told the court he never came across anything about
the transaction while he was serving as the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation and till he left office.
“My Lord, all through my years in service at my capacity,
I never came across such a document. Having served for five years, seven
months, I can say this document did not emanate from the office of the
President”, he said.
Continuing, Mustapha faulted the correspondence
Emefiele claimed came from the President's office with a reference
number, pointing out that, “once a correspondence has the
President’s seal, there is no need for a reference number, because the seal is
the authority”.
“I have looked at it, read it, and the Federal Executive
Council’s decisions are not transmitted by letters but through extracts,
after conclusions were adopted.
“My Lord, I am a custodian of all records,
therefore, the President cannot give me the records, and in all my years
in service, I have never heard the term ‘Special Appropriation Provision’ that
is referred to here. In all the correspondences I have received from my
principal, it has never ended with ‘please accept the assurance of my highest
regard'. I am his subordinate, so nothing of such would emanate. And lastly, my
Lord, the Nigerian government has nothing to do with financing foreign
observers. I know for a fact because I managed two elections, so the
responsibility of such lies with INEC”, he said.
Asked by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedapo
SAN, in respect of exhibit PD7 which states that it was 187 FEC
meeting that held in 18 January, 2023; Mustapha affirmed that a FEC meeting
held, but it was not 187 session, but rather first meeting of the year because
it was January.
“My Lord, there was a meeting and it was the first
meeting not 187. It was the first meeting of the year. My Lord, all FEC
meetings are normally Presided over by the President or Vice president.
In the case of the 18 January, it was the Vice president that presided over the
meeting because the President was not around. My role was to prepare the agenda
of the meeting and on that day, there was a16- point agenda, and there was no
agenda that had to do with foreign observers, so it did not appear on the FEC
of 18 January, there was no such approval or, anything else from the FEC”, he
said.
Asked whether the letter for the approval of the money
emanated from his office, Mustapha denied any knowledge regarding it.
“My Lord, to the best of my knowledge, that letter did
not emanate from my office, not to talk of signing it. I am saying it was not
from me for the following reasons; I was not privy to the operations of CBN, so
I cannot write to the governor or the director. Secondly, the heading is
defective because it reads: ref. for election observers".
"It presupposed that there were previous correspondences
when you say ref. So my Lord, it is not true because it does not carry
any FEC approval. And finally, there was a reference at the end of the
letter", he said.
Mustapha further told the court that he was not aware of any
Special Taskforce and had no idea who Jibril Abubakar is.
“I wish to state my Lord that, I am not aware of any
Special Taskforce and I do not know one Jibril Abubakar, Principal Officer One,
who was alleged as the coordinator of this Taskforce, so I did not introduce
any Abubakar to CBN governor, he said.
While on cross-examination, Mathiew Bukka SAN, asked whether
Mustapha received any amount from the money, he said he did not
receive a single dollar when he was serving and when he left office.
Mustapha denied knowledge of Knowing Abubakar, stressing that
he had never met him, nor did he ever work for him.
He further said that he knew about the scandal on social
media when it was stated that the defendant and himself connived to steal
the huge amount of money, and for him to protect and redeem his image and
integrity before the world, he then made a Press Release exonerating himself
and at the same time encouraged further investigation on getting to the root of
the matter.
After his testimony, Justice Muazu adjourned the matter till 7, 11 and 25 March 2023 for continuation of trial.
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