The trial of the chief maintenance officer of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Ganiyu Yunusa Deji before Justice Jude Okeke of the Federal Capital Territory High Court continued on September 25, 2019 with the presentation of the first prosecution witness, Mr. Mathew Bala, who told the court that the monies he transferred to the suspect, who was also in charge of fuel supply to NEMA’s generators were in appreciation of the NEMA staff who work under Deji.
According to EFCC, the witness is the managing director of Rekinat Global Resources Limited, which had the contract to supply fuel to the NEMA office.
Deji was arraigned on February 2019, he is facing three-count charges from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC that border on official corruption. He is alleged to have received backhanders from Bala’s Rekinat Global Resources Limited which supplied fuel to NEMA, with EFCC’s investigation establishing that funds were found to have been paid into the defendant’s account from Rekina Global Resources Limited.
According to the witness, “sometime in late 2015 when the defendant took charge of NEMA’s Maintenance Department, I made a transfer from the company’s account, Rekinat Global Resources Limited, domiciled in FCMB to Deji’s account with Diamond bank to the tune of N592,000; another N615,000 was transferred to his account in 2016.”
He added that yet another N500,000 was transferred to the defendant’s account around May 2016 and another N617,000 towards the end of 2016.
As a contractor who had been supplying 11,000 litres of diesel to NEMA since 2011, the witness told the court that the money transfers to the defendant were in appreciation of the NEMA staff who work with the defendant. “I sent it (money) to him as a thank you to his staff, to take care of his staff in the office,” the witness said.
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