How Yahaya Bello evaded arrest by EFCC over alleged fraud
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Barely 48 hours after the Ward executives of All Progressives Congress (APC) suspended Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the man that the ‘anti-corruption fighting’ President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, installed as National Chairman of the party and who has been operating very powerfully in the political system of the country especially in Kano State, on that strength, another controversial APC former governor whose day of reckon had been scheduled for after office, Yahaya Bello, is now in for show.
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His Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja residence was, on Wednesday April 17, 2024, laid siege to by stern looking operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) with a view to arresting him for prosecution in court over a mid-March 2024 indictment in an alleged diversion of about N100 billion, an offence said to have been committed months before he assumed office as governor of Kogi State in September 2015.
The DEFENDER gathered from reported eyewitness accounts that the EFCC officials barricaded the ex-governor’s residence from 9am on Wednesday while the suspect was in there until the anti-graft operation was thwarted by his successor, Governor Usman Ododo.
Yahaya Bello, who ruled like emperor as governor of North Central state of Kogi from January 27, 2016 to January 27, 2024 when he handed over to his fellow party man believed to be his stooge, Usman Ododo, had become untouchable for eight years because of the immunity that he carried as a serving governor but which he cannot any longer enjoy since leaving office in January this year.
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The purpose of the EFCC operation at the residence was initially unknown as none of the anti-graft agents was ready to speak to the press, supporters of the former governor were seen in front of the house albeit effortlessly.
His indictment
Mid-March, the EFCC indicted Yahaya Bello, in an alleged diversion of about N100 billion, an offence said to have been committed months before he assumed office as governor in September 2015.
The EFCC had joined Yahaya Bello in the amended suit alongside the Chief of Staff to Kogi State Governor, Alli Bello, and one Daudu Suleiman who was re-arraigned by the anti-graft agency before Justice James Omotoso of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
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The ex-governor was not a defendant in the original suit, and was not in court on the said day.
Justice Omotoso had granted an accelerated hearing in the matter and had also ordered that all forms of objections must be kept in abeyance till the address stage and the charge were read to them.
In the first count, the former governor, and the two suspects were accused of conspiring with each other in September 2015 and converting N80, 246, 470, 089 to their personal use.
They were also alleged to have run foul of section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 because they ought to have reasonably known that the money was a product of fraud and criminal breach of public trust.
In other charges, the suspects were alleged to have concealed several millions of naira with one Rabiu Musa Tafada, a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator trading under Global Venture in Abuja.
The Kogi State Government had swiftly faulted the anti-graft agency and described as a “witch-hunt, the charges against the immediate past governor.
‘Call EFCC to order’
In its reaction to the presence of EFCC operatives at Yahaya Bello’s Abuja residence on Wednesday, the ex-governor’s Media Office faulted the activities of operatives of the anti-graft agency who were at Bello’s residence to “effect his arrest”.
In a statement, Bello’s media office urged President Bola Tinubu to call the EFCC to order.
“This is despite a subsisting Order of injunction granted on 9th February 2024 by the High Court of Justice, Lokoja Division in Suit No. HCL/68M/2024 between Alhaji Yahaya Bello v. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, restraining the Commission either by itself or its agents from harassing, arresting, detaining or prosecuting Alhaji Yahaya Bello, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive fundamental rights enforcement action,” the statement partly read.
“The EFCC was duly served with that Order on 12th February 2024 and on 26th February 2024; the EFCC filed an Appeal (Appeal No.: CA/ABJ/CV/175/2024: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission v. Alhaji Yahaya Bello) against the said Order to the Court of Appeal Abuja division. The Appeal was accompanied by a Motion for Stay of Execution of the Order of the High Court which the Court of Appeal adjourned for hearing till the 22nd day of April 2024.
“Furthermore, Judgment in the substantive case between Alhaji Yahaya Bello and the EFCC is to be delivered at 12 Noon today in Lokoja.
“Contrary to all of the above, the EFCC has now laid siege to the home of H.E Yahaya Bello seeking to arrest him in contravention of the extant orders!
It is a surprise that an agency led by a lawyer could flagrantly disobey a subsisting court order by taking actions contrary to the reliefs granted.
“Nigerians have perceived the desperation of the anti-graft agency to embarrass and harass the former Governor by all means through spurious allegations, especially the latest one dating back to September 2015, way before he assumed office.
“We are aware that there are clandestine moves to correct the error, but with even more questionable allegations, which would embarrass the Commission and Nigeria more than the initial one.
“It is unfortunate that an agency that is supposed to enforce the law is now the first culprit with respect to disobedience of court orders.”
The operation was eventually thwarted due to obstruction of it by the Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Usman Ododo, who whisked the former governor away shielding him against the process of being made to face justice over his actions of the past as initiated by the anti-corruption security organisation.
In the meantime, Nigerians, angered by clandestine attempt by Governor Usman Ododo to shield Bello from justice, have talked tough saying constitutional review or not, it should not happen that any corrupt public officer, who has abused power during his time in office or thereabout should not escape justice.
