A former Director of Currency Operations at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Ahmed Umar, on Tuesday told a FCT High Court that the minutes of the meeting of CBN management on Naira redesign was not sent to him.
Umar said this while testifying as the prosecution first witness (PW 1) in the alleged naira swap case filed against Godwin Emefiele , the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor.
In the four-count charge filed against him, the EFCC alleged that Emefiele disobeyed the direction of law with intent to cause injury to the public during his implementation of the naira swap policy of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He is standing trial before Justice Maryann Anenih.
Umar said that he signed the memorandum for the redesign of the naira in 2022.
When asked to comment on an Oct. 26, 2023, Meeting of the Committee of Governors (CoGs) of the CBN, he said:”the minutes of the meeting was only circulated among members of the CoG”.
Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Umar said that the management of the apex bank directed his department (Currency Operations) to “come up with a memo on the redesign of the naira notes in Aug. 22, 2022”.
Mr Umar stated that upon completion of the task, a memo was submitted to the CoG and subsequently listed for consideration.
The witness added that the CoG which comprises of the CBN governor as chairman and four deputy governors as members, on Oct. 26, 2022, held a meeting via zoom to deliberate on the memo his department submitted.
He disclosed that he had joined the meeting only “to make my presentation and exited ” afterwards.
Umar further disclosed that after the meeting the Corporate Affairs Department conveyed anticipatory approval of the CoG pending ratification by the Board of Directors (BoD).
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