An EFCC detective told the FCT High Court in Abuja on Wednesday that the redesigned currency notes the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) produced in late 2022 were not the versions then-President Muhammadu Buhari approved.
Chinedu Eneanya said this as the seventh prosecution witness in the trial of the then-CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is facing prosecution for alleged illegal redesign of the currency notes.
“The president (former President Muhammadu Buhari) approved on the 11th page (of a CBN memo issued by Mr Emefiele) and directed that the design be done locally.
“However, investigation showed that what was eventually produced was not what was presented to the president,” he said under cross-examination by Mr Emefiele’s defence team.
Mr Eneanya is an investigator with the prosecuting agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC accused Mr Emefiele of an illegal redesign of the Nigeria’s highest denominations – N200, N500 and N1,000 notes – in 2022. The redesign led to a severe scarcity of naira notes, causing widespread chaos, losses and pains in the build-up to the 2023 general elections.
Mr Emefiele faces four charges, including illegal redesign of naira notes, disobedience to the direction of law, and illegal act causing injury to the public.
According to the EFCC, Mr Emefiele violated Section 19 of the CBN Act, which states that the CBN cannot change a currency on its own except with the approval of the president on the recommendation of the Board.
But Mr Emefiele denied all the allegations.
Defendant disobeyed the CBN’s Act
Under cross-examination by Mr Emefiele’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Eneanya confirmed the extra-judicial statement authored during EFCC investigation by the Managing Director, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), Ahmed Halilu.
The witness said Mr Halilu disclosed to detectives that NSPMC produced the redesigned naira notes locally.
He also stated that no findings discovered during investigations contradicted the information contained in Mr Halilu’s statement.
However, investigations were conducted after the printing of the naira notes had been carried out locally.
The witness also said the CBN paid NSPMC to produce the redesigned naira notes.
But the witness maintained that Mr Emefiele violated CBN’s mandate.
“The investigation conducted by the team showed that the defendant disobeyed the provisions of the CBN Act, 2007, which stated that the CBN board must recommend to the president before currency can be redesigned,” he said.
He said members of either the CBN board or the CBN’s committee of governors confirmed this during investigations.
When he was asked if the EFCC received any petition from the public, he replied, “I do not know if the commission received any. I only investigated what was assigned to me…no petition was forwarded to me.”
Thereafter, EFCC’s lawyer A.O Mohammed, re-examined the witness. Mr Mohammed asked him to clarify whether then-President Buhari’s directive related to the design or production of the currency notes.
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The witness explained that the naira redesign had already been finalised and presented to the former president for approval.
He said the design prototypes were attached to a memorandum to the president.
He said the president approved and ordered that the new notes be produced locally.
The trial judge, Maryann Annenih, adjourned the case until 11 May.
Witnesses’ previous testimony
The witness took the stand in October 2025, focusing his testimony on the approval of the controversial redesign of the naira notes in 2022.
Similarly, in November 2024, the fifth prosecution witness, Kingsley Obiorah, a former deputy governor of the CBN, said the bank’s board never recommended the naira redesign to former President Buhari.
Mr Obiorah, who testified virtually, said he once served as Special Adviser to Mr Emefiele on economic matters.
He said the CBN board first heard of the naira redesign policy in mid-December 2022.
