Alleged $6.23m Fraud: Police Commissioner Confirms Emefiele Approved Payment to Foreign Election Observers

Abuja, Nigeria — April 29, 2026

A Commissioner of Police, Eloho E. Ekpoziakpho, on Tuesday told a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama, Abuja, that investigations into the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of $6.23 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that the payment was approved by former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Ekpoziakpho, who testified as Prosecution Witness 14 (PW14) before Justice Hamza Mu’azu, made the disclosure while giving evidence in the ongoing trial of Emefiele, who is facing an amended 20-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office, and conspiracy to obtain by false pretence.
The witness, who currently heads the Special Fraud Unit in Lagos, told the court that he previously served at the Force Intelligence Department, where his responsibilities included intelligence gathering on economic sabotage, terrorism financing, and related offences.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Ekpoziakpho stated that he participated in the interrogation of the defendant alongside Jim Obazee, the special investigator who led the probe.
He told the court that intelligence gathered during the investigation indicated that the $6.23 million was withdrawn from the CBN branch in Abuja with the approval of the then governor.

“In the course of the investigation, we got intelligence on the $6.23 million that was fraudulently taken from the CBN. We carried out investigations which led to the interrogation of the defendant,” he said.
The police commissioner further revealed that some suspects interrogated during the investigation made confessional statements, while the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) denied requesting any payment for foreign election observers.
Ekpoziakpho also identified a document allegedly originating from the SGF, which purportedly conveyed the approval of former President Muhammadu Buhari for the payment.

He explained that the document, marked as Exhibit PD6, was a letter dated January 26, 2023, forwarding presidential approval for the CBN to pay $6.23 million to foreign election observers, addressed to Emefiele in his capacity as CBN governor.

According to him, findings from the investigation showed that the document was acted upon and the payment was made. He added that the document was recovered from the CBN during the probe.
The witness also identified Exhibit PD1 as details of the dollar payment made on February 8, 2023, while Exhibit PD2 was described as a memo from the Director of Banking Services at the CBN, conveying approval and directing the release of the funds.

During proceedings, defence counsel, Matthew Burkaa, SAN, objected to the line of questioning, citing Section 128 of the Evidence Act, arguing that the witness could not testify on documents presented by the prosecution.
However, prosecution counsel countered that the documents had already been admitted as evidence before the court and that the law permits witnesses to explain such exhibits.
In his ruling, Justice Mu’azu held that since the documents were already before the court, the witness could be questioned on them but could not go into detailed interpretation of their contents.
The case was subsequently adjourned for continuation of trial.