By Miriam Humbe
The Third Prosecution Witness, PW3, Taiwo Johns, in the trial of the former Taraba State governor, Darius Dickson Ishaku, alongside the former Permanent Secretary in the state’s Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bello Yero, on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, narrated before Justice S.C. Oriji of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Abuja, how local governments in the state were made to transfer funds to his company’s account for the purchase and distribution of Christmas grains.
Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s Head, Media & Publicity disclosed this in a statement signed on Tuesday.
The transfers, made to his P3 Cornerstone account, he said, were on the instruction and directives of his bosses, Yero, the second defendant, Babangida Hassan, the director of finance and John Columba, the chief cashier.
“All the money paid to P3 Cornerstone was based on the directives of my boss, Alhaji Bello Yero, the Permanent Secretary; Babangida Hassan, the Director of Finance and John Columba, the Chief Cashier, who was my immediate boss,” he said.
He disclosed that N30 million was paid into his account by Donga Local Government on July 1, 2019.
“I can see a credit of N30 million from Donga LG in Exhibit 9, my credit balance as at the time the money entered was N2 million. After it entered, it became N32m.
“On the same day, July 1, 2019, a directive came from Director of Finance, Babangida Hassan that I should withdraw the N30 million in cash and I went to the bank with Dare Lawal and I handed over the money to him.” Lawal is the First Prosecution Witness, PW1.
According to him, on July 3, 2019, he again, received a credit of N8 million from Donga LG and on July 5, 2019, manager’s cheque of N8 million was credited to his company’s account.
On July 22, 2019, a manager’s cheque of N3 million from Yorro Local Government was credited to his company’s account.
“The N3 million was withdrawn the same day by me. The same amount was handed over to the Permanent Secretary and I drove him to the Government House.
“On July 24, 2019, Blessed Springs Modern Communication credited my account with N4.4 million. On that day, I reported to my superior, Babangida Hassan, the Director of Finance. On the same date, he gave an instruction on the account the money would be transferred to, which he said was a directive from above.
“On the same July 24, 2019, there were two transfers of N10 million each, into the P3 Cornerstone account. I reported the same to my boss.
“The two N10 million was paid into my account by the same person, Henrietta Meepatan, I withdrew N6 million, N5million and N1million,” he said.
Further in his testimony, he disclosed that Gashaka Local Government deposited a manager’s cheque of N35 million into P3 Cornerstone account, and that on July 29, 2019, Donga Local Government issued a cheque of N40.5 million.
“On the same date, Zing Local Government credited P3 Cornerstone with the sum of N35 million. The three local governments paid a total sum of N110 million into the account of P3 Cornerstone.
“I withdrew the same amount and the Permanent Secretary came to the bank with Dare Lawal and they confirmed it and collected it. On July 31, 2019, there was a transfer of N73 million into P3 Cornerstone by Gassol LGA. On that same day, Bali made a transfer of N40 million only to P3 Cornerstone.
“On September 3, 2019 Ardo Kola LG made a transfer of N40 million into P3 Cornerstone Nigeria Limited. On September 18, 2019, there were some deposits based on instructions. We had six cash deposits into the account by cashiers of six different local governments. They are, N8.5 million; N9.5 million; N9 million; N8.9m; N9.2m and N6.7m. The total amount was around N51.8million. Most of the money was sent to Blessed Springs account.”
In the course of the proceedings, counsel to the first defendant, Chris .A. Umar, SAN, informed the Court that he has a motion on notice, filed on July 17, 2026, seeking the leave of the Court for Ishaku to travel to Dubai for medical check-up and surgery.
With no objection from the prosecution, Justice Oriji granted the request for Ishaku to embark on a medical trip to Dubai and adjourned the matter till October 5, 2026 for continuation of examination of the testimony of the PW3.
