As the battle between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the immediate past Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, continues, the former governor’s presence in the Federal High Court, Abuja, tomorrow is regarded as the last opportunity for him.
Showing up in court tomorrow to take his plea in the 19-count charge filed against him and three others, according to highly-placed sources, would be the last chance the former Kogi helmsman would be given by EFCC.
Bello, who left office in January after completing his eight-year tenure as governor, has been having a running battle with the EFCC over allegations of financial malfeasance to the tune of N8.2 billion.
The anti-graft agency revealed that the former governor failed to honour earlier invitations sent to him to come and give explanations on the allegations, following which it stormed Bello’s Banghazi Street residence at Wuse Zone 4 on April 17 to execute a warrant of arrest obtained from court that day.
EFCC’s failure to arrest the former governor largely due to the intervention of the current Kogi State governor, Usman Ododo, who ferried Bello out of the residence in his (Ododo’s) official car, the “White Lion,” as Bello is called, was declared wanted by the commission.
Meanwhile, the anti-corruption commission had filed a 19-count charge bordering on money laundering against Bello, Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman, and Andulsalam Hudu before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.
The former governor had on five consecutive occasions, April 18; April 23; May 10; June 13; and July 17, failed to appear in court to take his plea, with the court adjourning to Wednesday, September 24 for him to take his plea.
In a dramatic move on Monday last week, Bello, in company with Governor Ododo, stormed the EFCC headquarters at Jabi, Abuja, in what the director of his media team, Ohiare Michael, said the former governor did after due consultations with his family, lawyers, and political allies.
According to Michael, “It is important for the former governor to now honour the invitation of the EFCC to clear his name, as he has nothing to hide and nothing to fear.”
Though there was a war of wits between the EFCC and the Belli team on his voluntary honour of the commission’s previous invitations, security sources today urged Bello to make himself available in court tomorrow, Wednesday, September 25, with a view to taking his plea and subsequently clearing his name if need be.
According to an impeccable source, “This is the only saving grace and last opportunity for him (Bello) to come out of hiding and clear his name, as he has been saying he neither has anything to fear nor hide.
“The only saving grace and last opportunity is for him to show up in court on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, to take his plea.”
The source added that “the Commission (EFCC) is not perturbed about all his moves because charges have been draughted against him already and his delay tactics about taking his plea could only worsen his case.
“His last opportunity is to make himself available in court. That is the only thing that can help his case.”
Speaking on EFCC snubbing the former governor last week when he came to its headquarters, the source informed that the anti-graft agency turned down Bello’s calculated moves to compromise its operational procedures.
The source informed that the former governor breached codes spelled out in EFCC’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) as he was communicating with some officers, who misled him, on his arrival at the headquarters, thereby throwing his surrender moves overboard.
Another reliable source said, “EFCC is a highly professional agency with strict guidelines about arrest, bail, surrender of wanted suspects, investigation, and prosecution.
“He (Bello) came carrying himself like an emperor in an environment where he is a suspect. Besides, the Commission reportedly stumbled on some intelligence regarding his motives for surrender, which could jeopardise his trial eventually.
These, according to the source, “made the chairman, Ola Olukoyede, act swiftly and turn down his contrived surrender offer.”
When contacted to find out EFCC’s next move on the Bello’s saga, its spokesman, Dele Oyewale, declined to comment on the issue but only confirmed that the case before the Federal High Court, Abuja, was adjourned to Wednesday, September 25.
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