Exposed: How $6.2m Stolen From CBN Within 24 Hours Was Shared

The sum of $6,230,000 allegedly stolen from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on February 8, 2023, was shared and invested into real estate, according to court documents.

The $6.2 million, according to the special presidential investigative team, led by Jim Obaze, that probed the tenure of the immediate past CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was removed from the apex bank’s vault under the guise of paying election observers.

Emefiele is standing trial on an alleged 20-count amended charge, preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He was alleged to have engaged in criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence when he served as central bank chief.

In the court documents, investigators described the theft as an insider’s job, allegedly effected by mainly, CBN officials with the connivance of two outsiders, identified as Adamu Abubakar and Imam Abubakar.

According to the documents, investigators claimed that Odoh Eric Ocheme, Emefiele’s personal assistant, received $3,730,000 of the funds, with three other people splitting the remaining $2,500,000.

Ocheme was said to have justified his lion’s share by claiming he had to pay other interests he had within the apex bank.

In one of the court documents, it was revealed that some of the beneficiaries invested their shares of the loot, estimated at about N1.4 billion in real estate, part of which has now been recovered.

In an affidavit filed along with an extradition charge pending against Adamu Abubakar, Imam Abubakar and Odoh Eric Ocheme before a Federal High Court in Abuja, one of the investigators, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, gave details of investigators’ findings and progress made so far.

Adamu Abubakar, Imam Abubakar and Ocheme are said to be at large and are believed to have fled the country.

This informed the initiation of extradition proceedings against them before the Federal High Court in Abuja.