The trial of former Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, continued on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, with two prosecution witnesses disclosing how they supplied Obiano cash in both naira and dollars through his proxies.
Ugochukwu Chinedu, Prosecution Witness, PW3, and a former banker between November 2, 2008, to March 26, 2023, who was the account manager of the Anambra State Government accounts, including the state’s Security Vote account, told the court that he usually delivered raw cash in both naira and US dollars to Obiano in line with the instructions given to him by Willie Nwokoye and Theophilus Meize, Obiano’s former principal secretary and accountant at the state Government’s House, respectively, who were signatories to the Security Votes account.
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“I usually processed transactions with the principal secretary, either daily or weekly, mostly using the instruments of cheques. I will go to his office on Fridays to balance the account. All the transactions I carried out were usually based on the instructions given to him by the account holders,” he said.
Further in his testimony, the PW3 stated that “sometime around July 2021, I was called by the compliance officer that they received an invitation from EFCC regarding an ongoing investigation into the administration of the Anambra State Government Security Votes’ account.
In the course of the investigation, I was asked to provide details into some other accounts that I managed which included Udo Ventures Limited, Moment of Peace Limited, Easy Diamond Integrated Links Limited, C.I Patty Ventures Nigeria Limited, Xpressive Consult Nig. Limited, among others.”
In addition to Chinedu’s testimony, another prosecution witness, identified as PW4, provided corroborative evidence by detailing how the cash deliveries were conducted discreetly to avoid detection.
He noted that the transactions were meticulously recorded and often involved significant amounts of money being moved under the guise of routine state expenses.
This new revelation has added a layer of complexity to the case, raising questions about the extent of financial mismanagement during Obiano’s tenure.
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