Ministers Transferred N1.5bn From Ministry's Account To Fund Jonathan's Campaign - Witness Claims

An investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Shiabu Shehu, has alleged that two ex-ministers and others transfered N1.5 billion from imprest account of Ministry of External Affairs with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to fund former President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election campaign in 2015.

Shehu, who is the third prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Minister of State for Finance under Jonathan, Mrs. Esther Nenadi Usman, former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Danjuma Yusuf and a company, Joint  Trust Dimensions Nigeria Limited, told Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Lagos, that the fund was transferred to an account belonging to one of the accused for campaign purposes.


 

He said that the beneficiary of the funds was neither a contractor nor  service provider to the ministry.

The witness, who was led in evidence by the EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, said he became familiar with the charge preferred against the accused in February 2016,  after a petition against them over an  alleged fraudulent transfer of funds  from the ministry’s account was assigned to his team to investigate.

Shehu said their investigation linked the former minister, Usman, and Yusuf to the account, and Yusuf and some members of his family who were directors in the company.