The first prosecution witness (PW1) in the ongoing trial of the immediate past governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku and one other, Ismail Oluwadamilare Lawal, on Thursday, told the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that he dealt with some Taraba State government officials strictly on instructions from the former governor.
Ishaku and a former permanent secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, Bello Yero, are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Sylvanus Oriji, sitting at Maitama, Abuja, in the charge, marked FCT/HC/CR/792/2024, on a 15-count charge, bordering on criminal breach of trust, conspiracy and conversion of public funds to the tune of N27billion.
They both pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against them.
At the resumed hearing in the case today, the PW1, Ismail Oluwadamilare Lawal, while being cross-examined by the counsel for Yero, Adeola Adedipe SAN, told the court that he collected monies from some Taraba State government officials, including the second defendant, on the instructions of the former governor.
According to Lawal, who served as a personal assistant to former governor Ishaku, the other officials included Chindo Audu; Galiya Godiya; Hazel Bala; Joel Gilenya; Taiwo Jones, John Columbia and Emmanuel Efun.
He told the court that he neither has any personal business with any one of the officials, including Yero, nor had the power to deal with them in his private capacity.
‘They were giving me the money on the instructions of His Excellency (Ishaku) to deliver to him. I don’t know where the money they were giving me was coming from,’ the PW1 said.
Asked if he knew the purpose of the N40million he wrote in his notebook, tendered as an exhibit before the court that he collected from Yero, Lawal said he did not know the purpose but only collected it on the instruction of the former governor.
‘I don’t have any personal business with him; I only dealt with him based on instruction,’ Lawal told the court.
He confirmed that one Jacklyn opened an account for him with Zenith bank to collect money from Taraba State government officials, adding that all the officials were under instructions from the first defendant.
Earlier, while answering questions from counsel for Ishaku, Eko Ejembi SAN, Lawal told the court that Taraba State is one of the states suffering from insurgency and insecurity for over 20 years, adding that he did not know if the annual security vote of the former governor was over N1billion.
He denied knowledge of two Access Bank accounts opened in his name, saying, ‘The Access Bank accounts are not known to me. That is my name, Ismail Oluwadamilare Lawal, but I don’t know about the accounts.’
He further informed the court that he was investigated by EFCC sometime in 2020, adding that his accounts with Zenith Bank were used by the commission in the course of its investigations.
The PW1 told the court that he could not remember if there was any property at Brains and Hammers was involved in the EFCC investigation.
Meanwhile, Justice Oriji rejected the November 12, 2020 judgment of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court sought to be tendered by Ejembi from the bar through the witness.
While ruling on the grounds that there was no nexus established between the witness and the judgment, the court held that the document could only be tendered during cross-examination when a nexus has been established between the witness and the document.
The judge added that the PW1 was not shown the document to establish a link between him and the document. He subsequently marked the document as rejected.
The judge rejected the document following an objection to its admissibility by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs SAN, arguing that the PW1 was not a party in the suit and did not know anything about the case.
Ejembi, on his part, argued that the document was relevant to the current case as the property listed in the judgment is the same issue in Count 14 of the 15-count charge before the court.
After the completion of the cross-examination of the PW1, Justice Oriji adjourned the case to December 8 for continuation of the hearing.