The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) witness, John Ibrahim, on Thursday told the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, how over N4.6 billion was allegedly diverted from the coffers of the Bauchi State government.
Mr Ibrahim, an investigator with the EFCC and 1st prosecution witness (PW-1) in the ongoing trial of Bauchi State’s finance commissioner, Yakubu Adamu, told Justice Emeka Nwite while being led in evidence by the commission’s lawyer, M.O. Adebayo, SAN.
The PW-1, in the open court, said he knew Mr Adamu and his company, Ayab Agro Products and Freight Company Ltd, which is being prosecuted as the 2nd defendant in the money-laundering offence.
“My lord, sometime in May 2024, the commission received intelligence reports against the fraudulent activities of the 1st defendant and his company.
“The intelligence has it that the 1st defendant used an account called I. S. Makayya Investment Resources Ltd with account number: 4091670187 belonging to the same I. S. Makayya Investment Resources Ltd.
“The account is domiciled in Polaris Bank, where the 1st defendant was serving as branch manager in Bauchi.
“That the account was used to receive funds belonging to the state government and thereafter disbursed to individuals and companies, including a company called Ayab Agro Products and Freight Company Ltd, 2nd defendant,” he said.
The witness said the commission accepted the intelligence report and commenced investigation in earnest by writing to the bank, requesting the bank statements of I.S. Makayya Ltd.
According to him, the commission received the response and analysed it accordingly.
“While analysing the statement, my lord, we saw an inflow of N4 billion and N650 million into the account of one Emmanuel Asomugha General Enterprises with account number 4091707386 domiciled in Polaris Bank, Bauchi.
“When we analysed the account of Emmanuel Asomugha General Enterprises, we discovered parts of the funds that were transferred to I. S. Makayya Investment Resources Ltd were a loan granted to Emmanuel Asomugha to supply 15, 000 motorcycles to Bauchi State’s civil servants.”
He said this was approved and confirmed by Mr Adamu while acting as Branch Manager, Polaris Bank, Bauchi.
“We invited the MD of I. S Makayya made his statement, and we asked him whether he is a contractor in Bauchi State, and he said he is not.
“We asked him on what basis his account received over N900 million from the account of Emmanuel Asomugha General Enterprises.
“He stated that all the inflows and outflows into his account were carried out without his knowledge,” he said.
The PW-1 said the investigating team saw transfers of about N266 million from the account of I. S. Makayya into the Ayab Agro Products account.
He said the team wrote to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and received responses.
He said the responses were analysed, and it was discovered that Adamu is a director in the company.
“We also wrote to Fidelity Bank, requesting the account statement of Ayab with account number 5600589345. We analysed the statement of account as well as the mandate card.
“We invited Emmanuel Asomugha General Enterprises, my lord. We interviewed him in the presence of his lawyer, and he volunteered a statement,” he said.
Besides, the witness said Mr Adamu was invited to the EFCC’s office for clarification on why Ayab Agro Ltd received funds meant for the purchase of motorcycles for the civil servants of Bauchi State, but he failed to report.
“We arrested him in 2025 in Bauchi and brought him to the commission and we interviewed him and he volunteered a statement,” he said.
According to Mr Ibrahim, his company, Ayab Agro Ltd, received the funds as repayment of a loan his agric company had granted to one Muntaka.
He said when Mr Adamu was asked why a company established for agric business started granting loans to individuals, the witness said the commissioner could not explain.
“That was our investigation, my lord,” he said.
Regarding how the loan was obtained, the witness said that Asomugha Enterprises applied for the loan.
When the lawyer asked if Mr Asomugha used anything as a guarantee for the loan, the witness said: “The state government, through the office of the Accountant-General, issued an irrevocable standing payment order to Polaris Bank that repayment should be made from the state government’s account domiciled in Polaris Bank.”
He alleged that the state government facilitated the loan.
He, however, testified that the loan was not used for the purpose it was granted.
“My Lord, when we analysed the account of the contractor, we only saw movement of money into the accounts of companies, including some BDC operators,” he said.
The PW-1 said that when these people were invited, some of them stated that they converted the money into dollars and handed it over to some officials of Bauchi State.
He listed some of the beneficiaries of the funds to include I.S. Makayya, Dnice Number City, Amy Trading Ltd, Umman Engineering, Assar Global Ltd, Inabi Nig Ltd, Zailali Idriss, among others.
Some of the documents, including CAC letters and bank statements, were tendered in evidence and admitted as exhibits against the defendants.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until May 4 for the continuation of the trial.
(NAN)
