The Nigerian government has requested the assistance of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to hunt and arrest three defendants in the alleged withdrawal of $6.2 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last year through a forged document. The office of the Special Investigator of the CBN, Jim Obazee, made the request on Monday after obtaining an order of the Federal High Court in Abuja. The suspects are Adamu Abubakar, Imam Abubakar, and Odoh Eric Ocheme. The federal government had filed extradition charges against the trio for allegedly forging the signature of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari and documents purportedly written by Boss Mustapha, the former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), to induce the payment of $6,230,000 from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Mustapha, who stated the above when he appeared as the fourth prosecution witness in the ongoing fraud trial of the immediate-past CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, before the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, said on Tuesday that $6.2m was released from the CBN in February 2023 using a forged document, adding that the money, was released for foreign observers ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Mustapha said neither he nor ex-President Muhammadu Buhari gave any approval for the disbursement of $6,230,000 to international election observers.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had earlier charged Mr Ochene, who is at large, alongside former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, before the Federal High Court in Abuja with stealing the said sum under the presence that it was requested by the presidency to pay international election observers.
The anti-graft agency alleged that on 8 February 2023, Mr Emefiele connived with Mr Ocheme to obtain $6.2 million from the CBN, claiming that the money was requested by the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha “vide a letter dated 26 January 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/.”
In a letter dated February 12, 2024, the special investigator asked interpol to place the three suspects on red notice.
The letter, signed by Eloho Okpoziakpo, the head of operations, office of the special investigator, was addressed to the assistant inspector-general of police, national central bureau (NCB) and interpol.
"In the course of the Special Investigator's assignment, Mr. Odoh Eric Ocheme, (a staff of the CBN) now at large and the other two accomplices, also now at large, were discovered to have conspired and forged documents in the name of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria with which they stole about US$6,230,000 (Six Million, Two Hundred and Thirty Thousand Dollars, in cash, from the coffers of the CBN," the letter reads.
On January 18, 2024, Inyang Ekwo, a judge at a federal high court in Abuja, issued a warrant of arrest against the three suspects.
