TheCable

Boss Mustapha, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says the recipient of the $6,230,000 from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not a staff of the SGF office.

One Jubril Abubakar is alleged to have collected the money meant for the payment of foreign election observers.

However, while giving evidence as the second prosecution witness in the trial of Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the CBN, Mustapha said his office had no record of Abubakar.

“Jubril is not my staff…There is no record of him,” Mustapha said.

“Not a dollar was brought to my office. No part of the money was brought to me.

“It is not the practice of the office of the SGF to send staff to any bank to collect money.”

Mustapha also said there was no memo to make payments to any government agency.

“No, my lord. If it is related to this transaction. There could have been others but not this,” he said.

‘FG HAS NO BUSINESS PAYING FOREIGN ELECTION OBSERVERS’

The former SGF said the federal government has no business with election observers because it is the duty of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“Nigeria government has no business with foreign election observers. That I know for a fact because I have managed two election cycles,” he said.

“It is the responsibility of INEC to cater for election observers.”

He said the issue of paying international election observers was never discussed at the federal executive council (FEC) meeting held on January 18, 2023, as claimed in the said letter.

“My role as the secretary to the council (FEC) is to prepare the agenda for the meeting. It was a 16-point agenda and there was no agenda that had to do with payment for foreign observers. So it could not have appeared in the conclusions,” he said.

‘I DID NOT SIGN ANY LETTER ADDRESSED TO CBN’

When shown exhibit PD6 which is said to be a letter from the office of the SGF, Mustapha said: “This letter did not emanate from the office of the SGF. I did not sign it.”

“I am not privy to the operations of the CBN so I cannot write to the director of banking service,” he added.

Mustapha reiterated that he did not know Abubakar who is alleged to be the coordinator of a task force set up by the federal government.

He said the heading of the letter is defective, as it presupposes, that there was a previous correspondence before it.

He also said the document does not conform to the standard with which letters are drafted by the office of the SGF.

Mustapha added that as a superior officer, he could not have referred to Emefiele as “dear sir”.

Earlier, during cross-examination, Ogbu Michael, a deputy director at the CBN who was formerly a branch controller at the time, told the court that he authorised the payment of the $6.230 million after the approval from the banking services department.

He said the money was paid in cash and was expected to be refunded in the second quarter of 2023.

When asked by Matthew Burkaa, counsel to Emefiele, if he authenticated the identity card used for the payment of the money, Ogbu said, “I went by the payment instructions and did not go beyond the identity card attached to the document. The money was paid in USD cash to Jubril”.

Bukaar further asked if the identity card presented a National ID, Driver’s license, international passport or voter’s card, the witness said: “The instruction was to pay with the ID indicated.”

Hamza Muazu, presiding judge, adjourned the matter to March 7, 11 and 25 for the continuation of trial.