Former CBN director Ayoh admits collecting $600,000 bribe from Emefiele

On Monday, John Ayoh, a former director of information technology at the Central Bank of Nigeria, said that he had received $600,000 from contractors in two installments on behalf of Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the top bank. 

This was revealed by Ayoh, the second witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, as he related incidents in which he helped transfer funds to Emefiele under the pretence that they were for contract awards. 

At the Ikeja Special Offences Court in Lagos, during cross-examination by defence attorney Olalekan Ojo (SAN), Ayoh acknowledged to have facilitated the purported bribery under duress.

The former governor of the beleaguered Apex Bank is facing numerous ongoing legal fights in Lagos and Abuja. The EFCC is prosecuting him at the Special Offences Court on charges of abusing his position and taking bribes totalling N2.8 billion and $4.5 billion. 

Along with Henry Isioma-Omoile, his co-defendant, he was charged on April 8, 2024, with 26 offences about the abuse of office, accepting gratifications, corrupt demand, receiving property, and fraudulently acquiring and bestowing corrupt advantage. 

But Emefiele's defence contested the court's authority to hear constitutional issues and called for the dismissal of counts one through four as well as counts eight through twenty-four against him.

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