$4.5bn fraud: How Emefiele used associates to acquire properties — Witness

A witness has narrated to the Special Offences Court sitting in the Ikeja area of Lagos State how the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, allegedly used cronies to acquire properties worth beyond his legitimate income across Lagos and other parts of Nigeria while in office.

Alvan Gurumnaan, the eighth prosecution witness and the team leader of the investigators in the ongoing $4.5 billion alleged fraud trial involving Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, disclosed this on Thursday, November 12, 2026.

Emefiele is being prosecuted before Justice Rahman Oshodi by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 19-count charge bordering on receiving gratification and making corrupt demands while serving as CBN Governor.

Gurumnaan, while continuing his evidence-in-chief under examination by prosecution counsel and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), revealed that Emefiele’s statement was recorded following intelligence received by the special operations team he led.

He told the court that Emefiele allegedly used associates to acquire numerous properties whose value was beyond what his legitimate income as CBN Governor could justify.

The witness listed the properties to include a pair of twin duplexes in Lekki Phase 1; two mansions on Queens Drive, Ikoyi; an uncompleted factory in Agbor, Delta State; a printing and minting company on Adekunle Lawal Street, Ikoyi; and a warehouse in Ogun State containing containers worth hundreds of billions of naira.

Others include two-storey buildings comprising 94 luxury flats under construction, an industrial park, and an estate in Abuja housing over 700 duplexes under construction.

Gurumnaan told the court that all the aforementioned properties had been duly forfeited to the federal government following court judgments.

Gurumnaan said: “Several courts have given judgements in favour of the EFCC, forfeiting assets and properties belonging to Emefiele. He accepted and came to court that the properties belong to him.

“We also discovered that the first defendant was building a factory in his hometown in Agbor, Delta State, which has also been forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

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“There is also a property, My Lord, on Adekunle Lawal Street in Ikoyi, Lagos, which the first defendant purchased. It had belonged to the Nigerian Printing and Minting Company, where he served as Chairman of the Board, and he sold the property to himself.

“The property, a block of eight flats in Ikoyi, has also been forfeited to the government. During our investigation, another warehouse belonging to the first defendant was recovered in Ogun State, on the outskirts of Lagos.”

However, Emefiele’s counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), urged the court to discountenance the evidence concerning the properties in Agbor and on Adekunle Lawal Street, arguing that they were not contained in the charge before the court.

Oyedepo tendered a document containing a Supreme Court judgement as an exhibit.

Justice Oshodi thereafter adjourned the matter until November 13, 2026, for a ruling on the admissibility of the exhibit and the continuation of the trial.