The Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja has summoned the former Governor over allegations of criminal breach of trust.
The summons issued by Justice Maryann E. Anenih on October 3, 2024, reads in part; “You are hereby summoned to appear before the Federal Capital Territory High Court of Justice (High Court No. 3) sitting at Maitama on the 14th day of November 2024 at the hour of 9.00am to answer the said complainant.”
According to the summons, Yahaya Bello is accused of violating Section 311 of the Penal Code Law, Cap. 89 Laws of Northern Nigeria 1963, which deals with criminal breach of trust and is punishable under Section 312.
EFCC had through its counsel DR. Kemi Pinheiro SAN applied Justice Emeka Nwite for bench warrant to compel the appearance of the embattled former Kogi governor Yahaya Bello’s appearance in court with the respect to the alleged N80.2bn fraud.
The antigraft agency secured an arrest warrant against him on April 17 and declared him wanted in connection with an N80 billion money laundering case, but he has been elusive since then as several attempts to arrest him have failed.
Months later, when an X post claimed that he was in the EFCC’s custody, Dele Oyewale, the commision’s spokesperson, denied it, saying Bello remained a wanted man.
Recall that the EFCC had filed another N110 billion fraud charge against Bello, and this was just one of the fresh 16-count charges against him.
He, alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, two officials of the Kogi state government, was accused of acquiring properties within and outside Nigeria through dishonest means.
Rather than appear in court that September, Bello filed a suit against the EFCC at the Supreme Court to seek the overturn of the arrest warrant issued against him on April 17.
Bello is not the first ex-governor to be involved in a legal battle with the EFCC. This FIJ publication documents 33 other former governors who have been prosecuted by the commission for corruption-related offences.
Although six of them have already been convicted, some of these cases are still ongoing while others have been struck out.