Bamayi Mairiga Haruna, a forensic document examiner with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has told the Federal Capital Territory High Court that former president Muhammadu Buhari did not sign the “presidential approval”, allegedly used to move USD6,230,000 out of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

EFCC alleged that the said amount was paid to foreign election observers during the 2023 general election.

Haruna testified against a former Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, who is facing a 20-count charge bordering on alleged corrupt practices and forgery instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

DIPLOMATIC DIARY recalls that former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, had told Justice Hamza Muazu that he knew nothing about the transaction and that all through his service year as SGF till May 29, 2023, he never came across a presidential directive or memo from Buhari regarding the money.

Emefiele is standing trial before Justice Muazu on 20-count amended charges bordering on corrupt advantages, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, forgery and obtaining by false pretenses to the tune of $6,230,000.

At the resumed hearing, the forensic analyst confirmed that a document used to request the payment of $6.2million for foreign election observers was forged.

Haruna, lnformed the court that following forensic analysis of the disputed documents, he discovered that there was clear evidence of forgery of signature, adding that the seal of execution was different from the original.

Haruna explained that the specimen signatures on all the documents in dispute “does not rhyme with the signature of Buhari on the disputed document marked X.”

“Signatures were compared to establish similarities or dissimilarities. To verify the entire process data analysis was carried out using other methodologies as well as a peer review of the report and analysis by another expert, to validate it in terms of reproducibility.

“Conclusion from the analysis revealed that the disputed document showed evidence of forgery and copying as the same movement in formation and the skill of execution were found to be different from that of the specimen signature.

“This is a confirmation that the author of the specimen signature marked B -B1, did not write the signature of Muhammadu Buhari on the disputed document marked X”, he said.

Under cross-examination by counsel for Emefiele, Mathew Burkaa (SAN), Haruna said he was not a staff of the EFCC, and was not being paid by the anti-graft agency but that his salary was domiciled with the Nigeria Immigration Service.

He said, his forensic examination was limited to only Buhari and Mustapha, adding that he did not carry out  forensic examination of Emefiele’s signature because the EFCC did not submit it to him.

When asked if he knows the defendant,  Haruna said he only reads about Emefiele in the media and that his job is limited to the analysis of documents given to him. 

Haruna, who said he did not know why Emefiele is on trial, said he only analyzed Buhari and Mustapha’s signatures. He also admitted that the request for the forensic document examination was made by the EFCC. 

Haruna urged the court to rely on his analysis which showed the signatures were forged.

Two documents, including presidential directive on foreign observers, were admitted in evidence by the trial judge, justice Muazu.

Counsel for Emefiele, Matthew Burkaa, expressed displeasure over the conduct of the witness, saying that the witness misled the court by evading questions. However, the Prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, objected to the claim.

Subsequently, the judge adjourned to March 13, for the continuation of trial.