LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- A forensic expert examiner, Haruna Mairiga, has confirmed that documents used to release $6.2m from the Central Bank of Nigeria in February 2023 were forged.
Mairiga who is the Sixth Prosecution Witness, PW6, in the trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, governor, Godwin Emefiele on Thursday, March 7, 2024 told Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Abuja.
He said forensic examination showed that the signatures of former President Muhammadu Buhari and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha were allegedly forged for the payment of $6.2million to foreign election observers in the 2023 general election.
This was contained in a press statement signed by the Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Dele Oyewale.
Led in evidence by the EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), Mairiga said the Presidential Directive on Foreign Observers Election A” and “Presidential Directive on Foreign Observer Election A2,” which were the documents upon which the payment was made by the CBN under Emefiele, showed manifest evidence of forgery of the signatures of Buhari and Mustapha under forensic scrutiny, and a clear evidence that the seal of execution was equally fake.
“My Lord, the conclusion of the examination showed that the questioned signature marked “X-X1” had suspicious evidence of forgery or copying act, as line quality, the form, skill of execution and pen movement were found to be different from the specimen signatures marked A-A2 and B-81″, he said.
Continuing, he stressed that, “specifically, the form and formation of the disputed signature marked X and specimen signatures marked 1 were different with respect to pen movement impulses, initial and terminal strokes, loops, tremors, and individual characteristics.
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“This confirms that the author of specimen signatures marked B-81 did not write the signature of Muhammadu Buhari on the disputed document marked X.
“Also, the form and formation of the disputed signature marked X1 and specimen signatures marked A-A2 were also different with respect to pen movement impulses, initial and terminal strokes, loops, tremors, and individual characteristics.
“This confirms that the author of specimen signatures marked A-A2 did not write the signature of Boss Mustapha on the disputed document marked X1 and the same was produced into a report and returned to the requesting unit,” it stated.
The statement further noted that the “Presidential Directive on Foreign Observers Election A” and “Presidential Directive on Foreign Observer Election A2” were tendered in evidence and admitted by the court.
Under cross-examination by counsel to Emefiele, Matthew Burkaa, SAN, Mairiga revealed that he was seconded to the EFCC in 2018 from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), and that NIS remained the agency of his primary employment.
After listening to the cross examinations, Justice Muazu discharged Mairiga from the dock, and adjourned the matter till March 11, 2024.
Earlier on Monday, February 12, 2024, Ogau Onyeka Michael, a prosecution witness, had disclosed before Justice Muazu that Emefiele approved the payment of $6,230,000 in cash for international election observers in the 2023 General Election.
Michael, a former Abuja Branch Controller of CBN, led in evidence by Oyedepo revealed that on January 8, 2023, a request for payment in the sum of $6,230,000 came to his office and that the documents for the disbursement of the money were approved by the then CBN governor in cash for international election observers.
Similarly, another prosecution witness, Boss Gida Mustapha, former SGF on Tuesday February 13, 2024 told Justice Muazu that neither the former President Buhari nor himself raised a memo directing the apex bank to pay the said sum to international election observers in the last general election.
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Mustapha told the court he never came across the transaction while he served as the SGF.
“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“, he said.
The EFCC, on June 18, 2023, arraigned Emefiele on amended 20 counts, in which he was accused of impersonating the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to illegally move $6.2m from the CBN vault.
In the charges, 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/.
The anti-graft agency also 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 previous hearing, the immediate-past SGF, Boss Mustapha, appeared as a witness to testify against Emefiele.
Mustapha, in his testimony, told the court that neither he nor ex-President Muhammadu Buhari were aware of the $6.2m, adding that Buhari’s signature was forged to move the money out.
“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, who was the fourth prosecution witness, told the court.