Emefiele didn’t have Buhari, CBN board’s approval for naira redesign, says EFCC witness
Adamu, a former deputy CBN governor, disclosed that the usual process for currency redesign begins with the director of currency operations submitting a proposal to the committee of governors (COG).
Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), did not get the approval of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari to carry out the naira redesign in 2023, a witness told the federal capital territory (FCT) high court on Wednesday.
Edward Adamu, the fourth prosecution witness (PW4) in the trial of Emefiele, told Maryanne Anenih, the presiding judge, that the former CBN governor did not also get the approval of the apex bank’s board for the naira redesign.
Led in evidence by Rotimi Oyedepo, the prosecution counsel, Adamu, a former deputy CBN governor, disclosed that the usual process for currency redesign begins with the director of currency operations submitting a proposal to the committee of governors (COG).
“The COG then transmits the proposal to the CBN Board for approval, with the final stage being the seeking of presidential endorsement,” the witness said.
Adamu said Emefiele bypassed the procedures by calling for a COG meeting, presented what he claimed was a presidential approval, and proceeded with the redesign straightaway.
“I became aware of it in October 2022 when the governor informed us, the deputy governors, that he had gotten an express approval to redesign the currency,” he said.
“Then on the 26th of October 2022, we were formally informed of the presidential approval of the redesign, so that is what happened in October, then there was a formal announcement of the currency redesign.
“At the meeting, the governor showed us the approval of the president, by showing us the page where the approval of the president is.
“Subsequently, there was a board meeting of the board of directors, where we were also informed of the presidential approval of the currency redesign.”
The witness added that the current designs of the notes fundamentally differ from what was originally approved, stating that Emefiele unilaterally made the changes.
The redesign affected N200, N500, and N1000 notes.
When the defence counsel, Olalekan Ojo, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), sought to know if there had been instances where presidential approval was gotten for an action before the CBN Board was informed, the witness stated that such was not the practice during his time at the apex bank.
The presiding judge discharged the witness from the dock at the end of the cross-examination and adjourned the matter till October 17 for continuation of trial.
