A prosecution witness has narrated how former acting accountant general of the federation, Chukwunyere Nwabuoku, diverted over N868 million from the Federal Ministry of Defence.
The testimony was given on Thursday by Gudi Johnson, an investigator with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), before the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja.
Johnson appeared as the ninth prosecution witness (PW9) in the ongoing trial before Justice James Omotosho.
Nwabuoku is standing trial on a nine-count amended charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), bordering on money laundering.
According to an EFCC statement issued Monday, Johnson told the court that ICPC launched an investigation after receiving intelligence from the Ministry of Defence concerning suspicious transactions linked to companies such as Trans Afro Limited, Torch Global Limited, and Teemell Limited.
“We discovered that one Gideon Joseph was registered as a director in these companies. His address was Louis Street, Maitama and Kubwa. We invited him to answer as to what business he carried out.
“All the letters could not be delivered, so we resorted to the Ministry of Defence,” Johnson told the court.
He further revealed that a Director of Accounts in the Ministry, identified as Mr. Felix, told investigators he acted on the instructions of Nwabuoku, who was then serving as Director of Finance and Accounts.
“Other persons were called and they said they were instructed to withdraw the monies they received into the accounts of Teemell, Touch Global and Transactional Afro Nig. Ltd,” he said.
Johnson said that when Nwabuoku was invited for questioning, he claimed the diverted funds were meant for classified security operations, which he was not at liberty to disclose.
As a result, the ICPC forwarded its findings and related documents to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
“A committee was set up including Gen. Monguno, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, myself, Bellozi Adama from EFCC and others. We were told to investigate the matter,” he stated.
During interrogation, Nwabuoku initially claimed only N100 million of the funds belonged to him.
However, further investigation uncovered that much larger sums had been diverted and linked back to him.
“As soon as funds were deposited into the Ministry’s accounts, it was diverted and withdrawn by Gideon Joseph. The cash withdrawn would be deposited by Gideon into the account of M. Daddy’s Ltd,” Johnson testified.
He said a man named Jerry Nwachukwu also confirmed that N355 million was deposited into M. Daddy’s Ltd account at the instruction of Nwabuoku. Tracing the funds further, investigators found that N150 million from M. Daddy’s account was transferred to Quantum Zenith Ltd.
Johnson also revealed that N13 million was used for a property payment to El Salen Ltd, and N10 million went towards the purchase of a power generating set.
“We obtained records from City Gate Homes showing a property of N65 million linked to the defendant. We told him these are proceeds of crime which must be recovered. We inspected the house at City Gates Homes and seized the keys,” he added.
When asked about Nwabuoku’s declared assets, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) confirmed he did not declare the said property.
“We wrote to the Code of Conduct Bureau and they said there was no information on his assets,” Johnson told the court.
The court admitted several documentary exhibits, including letters from the Office of the National Security Adviser dated January 18 and 20, 2022 (marked as Exhibits PwJ and K), a Remita response (Exhibit L), a response from the CCB (Exhibit M), and letters from Zenith Bank (Exhibit PWR) and Access Bank (Exhibit PWS).
Justice Omotosho adjourned the case until May 22 and 23, 2025, for the continuation of hearing.
