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Justice Ekerete Akpan of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, fixed June 22, July 1 and 2, 2026 for definite hearing in the trial of the Chief Executive Officer of Onome Global Market Resources Limited and Lexicon Multi-concept Media Limited, Osabohein Alex Ologbose, and his wife Hope Onome Oghelemu for alleged investment fraud.

The duo are being prosecuted alongside two companies, on a seven-count charge, bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, conversion of funds and money laundering to the tune of N740 million.

According to the EFCC, the offence is contrary to Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 and punishment under Section 18(4) of the same Act.

The defendants were arraigned on February 16, 2026.

At the resumed hearing of the matter on Monday, the prosecuting EFCC lawyer, O.S Ujam, informed the court that the prosecution team was ready to proceed with the trials and to present three witnesses in court.

On his part, the defence lawyer , T.O. Ochayi, informed the court that he was unprepared for the commencement of the trial, having been briefed on the matter just a day before and taking over only today.

He said, “We are not ready, my lord. I am sorry my lord. I just came into this matter today, I was not the counsel before now. I am not ready for trial. I was briefed yesterday, I would like this matter to proceed only if I have the motion for bail.”

Responding, Ujam informed the court that the prosecution team was hearing such a response from the defence for the first time, frowning at the fact that the prosecution was not given any prior notice for the change in counsel. He further informed the court that the three prosecution witnesses present in court were elderly and have been in court since morning.

He said, “We are just hearing this, this morning. No notice was given to us. I am not opposed to the adjournment, however, we urge the court to slate the matter for definite hearing. We have three witnesses that came from afar and elderly. They have been in court since morning.”

Justice Akpan, thereafter, adjourned the matter till June 22, and July 1 and 2, 2026 for definite hearing.

Investigation by the EFCC revealed that the first and second defendants induced unsuspecting members of the public into paying money into Oghelemu’s account or that of Onome Global Market Resources Limited on the false pretence that it was for procurement and exportation of “bitter kola nuts” and “red kola nuts” to Hong Kong, China and Indonesia after which they would be paid a huge Return on Investment (RoI).

But it turned out that the investors neither got RoI, nor their investment sums back.

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In what can be considered as controversial statement and in line with his characteristic stance that usually attracts divergent views, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna many never work again in spite of the NNPCL’s efforts to secure technical partners for the refineries.

Speaking during a televised interview on Sony Irabor Live , Obasanjo pointed to structural and historical challenges that, in his view, have continued to undermine the refineries’ performance.

He said, “One of the lessons that I learnt is that PPP (public-private partnership) works. Look, one project that has not been destroyed by the government in Nigeria is the NLNG (Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas), where the private sector has 51 per cent, and the Nigerian government has 49 per cent.

“See what we did with Nigerian railways. See what we did with the national shipping company. See what we are doing now, even with the NNPCL . The NNPCL has refineries, and I said to people that it may never work. And a man had the audacity to say, ‘Am I a chemical engineer?”

The former president recalled past attempts during his administration to attract global operators, including Shell, to manage the refineries under a partnership model. According to him, those efforts did not yield results.

“Look, when I was there, I called Shell. I said, ‘Look, please, I beg you, come and take 10 per cent equity and run the refinery for us.’ They said no. I said, ‘Okay, if you don’t want to take equity, don’t take equity. Come and run the refineries. They said no,” he stated.

He further explained that discussions with company officials highlighted commercial and operational concerns that influenced their decision.

“So, I called him, and I said, ‘Tell me, be honest with me. Why don’t you want to handle this?’ He said first, they want to let me know that they make most of their profits on the upstream, not the downstream.”

He said they run their downstream without making a loss, but they don’t make a lot of profit from it. It’s more of a service than a major profit-making. So that’s number one.

“Number two: he said our refineries are too small. This was when I was an elected President. He said our refineries are too small. One is 60,000 barrels, and another is 100,000 barrels. He said refineries at that time were in the range of 250,000 barrels to 300,000 barrels. Number three: he said our refineries are not well-maintained. We call quacks and amateurs to come and maintain our refineries. The refineries are not in good order. He said, ‘Number four, there’s too much corruption around our refineries, and they don’t want to be part of that,” Obasanjo explained.

Obasanjo also revisited a previous transaction involving the Dangote Group, led by Aliko Dangote, which he said offered a pathway for private sector participation at the time.

“Until one day, Aliko (Dangote) came and offered $750m to take two of the refineries; that will be 51 per cent. I said, ‘Wow, God, you are really a God of miracles.’ I told Aliko to bring the money quickly. They brought the money, and they paid,” he said.

He noted, however, that the arrangement did not endure beyond his tenure, following a policy reversal under his successor, the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Obasanjo said, “When I left office, NNPC went to my successor and convinced him. So I got up. I went to Umar. I said, ‘Look, Umar, maybe you don’t know; this is why we did what we did.’ He said, ‘Well, NNPC came to me.’ I said, ‘But you know that NNPCL cannot run this thing. He said he knew. I asked, ‘Then why did you give in? He said because of pressure. And I said, ‘Look, when you sell these refineries, you will not get $200million for them, because you will sell them as scrap.’”

Obasanjo further referenced recent disclosures by the current NNPCL leadership, noting that , “Only the present NNPCL head has told the country the truth. But in the meantime, I was told that they have spent about $16bn, which is only $4bn short of what Aliko used to build Africa’s largest refinery,” the former President said.

The current Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, had earlier indicated that despite rehabilitation efforts and the brief reopening of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries in 2024, the facilities remain below global performance benchmarks, affecting their competitiveness.

In November 2025, NNPCL set a June 2026 target to conclude the selection of technical partners, a move seen as part of broader reforms to improve efficiency and output.

Meanwhile, Dangote has maintained that his decision to establish a privately owned refinery followed the earlier reversal of the refinery sale, adding that the future of the state-owned facilities remains uncertain.

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A prosecution witness on Monday told the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, that at least $6.23billion was allegedly moved out of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the pretext of financing foreign election observers for the 2023 general elections under the former governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele.

The witness, Chinedu Eneanya, testified before Justice Hamza Muazu in the ongoing trial of Emefiele.

Emefiele is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an amended 20-count charge bordering on alleged criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office, conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence.

Eneanya, who appeared as the 13th prosecution witness (PW13), told the court that he was a member of the investigative team assigned to probe the allegations against the former apex bank chief.

Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the witness said investigations uncovered that $6.23 billion was withdrawn from the CBN’s vaults under the guise of paying foreign election monitors invited for the 2023 polls.

According to him, several individuals linked to the controversial transfer of funds were invited for questioning during the investigation.

He added that key documents authorising the release of the money were also retrieved from the CBN.

The witness further told the court that investigators discovered that the signatures of late former President Muhammadu Buhari and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, were allegedly forged to approve the release of the funds.

He said forensic examination carried out on the documents confirmed that the signatures credited to both officials were fake.

During cross-examination by defence counsel, Matthew Burkaa (SAN), Eneanya disclosed that five officials of the CBN who endorsed the internal memo connected to the transaction had since been suspended by the bank.

Earlier in the proceedings, Burkaa urged the court to foreclose the prosecution’s case if it failed to produce its remaining two witnesses at the next sitting.

He accused the prosecution of deliberately dragging the trial in a manner that could frustrate the defendant.

However, Oyedepo opposed the request, insisting that the prosecution had no intention of delaying the matter.

He explained that the remaining witnesses were currently outside the court’s jurisdiction and based in Benin City and Lagos, making their appearance difficult.

Oyedepo appealed to the court not to prevent the prosecution from fully presenting its case.

Justice Muazu directed both parties to reserve their arguments on the application until the final address stage.

He also instructed the prosecution to work with the court registrar to ensure subpoenas were issued for the outstanding witnesses.

The case was adjourned until Tuesday, April 28, 2026, for continuation of the trial.