A non-governmental organisation, Journalists Against Corruption (JAC), has condemned the former Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Yahaya Bello over his failure to appear in court to answer to the charges of money-laundering of over N80 billion preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The condemnation came just as the EFCC slammed fresh N110bn on Bello in an equally fresh fraud charges.
The anti – graft agency filed new 16-count charges bordering on fraud against him before an FCT High Court, Daily Trust reports.
The charges, which were filed by the Federal Government through counsels for the EFCC, Kemi Pinheiro, Rotimi Oyedepo both Senior Advocate of Nigeria and 7 other lawyers, also joined one Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalam Hudu as defendants.
The fresh charges also came on the heels of the former governor’s absence at a Federal High Court, Abuja where he was being tried for alleged charges to the tune of N80.2bn allegedly committed during his tenure as Governor in the state.
The fresh charges read in part, “That you, YAHAYA ADOZA BELLO, UMAR SHUAIBU ORICHA and ABDULSALAMI HUDU sometimes in 2016 in Abuja, within the jurisdictions of this Honourable Court agreed amongst yourselves to cause to be done an illegal act to wit: criminal breach of trust in respect of the total sum N110,446,470,089.00 entrusted to you.”
Reacting to Bello,’s failure to appear at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, JAC noted that the former Governor has been avoiding his arraignment since April 2024, stalling on seven occasions, his arraignment on charges involving alleged diversion of more than N80 billion belonging to the Kogi State Government during his eight-year tenure.
The trial court had on the 17th of July, 2024 rescheduled Bello’s arraignment to 25th September, 2024.
This is even as the Court of Appeal in Abuja had on the 17th and 20th of August, 2024 delivered two judgments in which it ordered Bello to make himself available for arraignment before taking any further steps regarding the matter.
In a statement issued by JAC’s Programme Director, Kehinde Osifisan, the group said, “In spite of the subsisting judgments and orders of the courts, Bello has continued to spurn the courts and refused to surrender himself for arraignment; thereby making a mockery of the courts as he had done to the EFCC.
“This is not about the EFCC as an institution. It is about us as a people. Indeed, the joke is on us as a people and a nation. It is against this background that we wish to reiterate our call on the Presidency to wade in and use all the instruments of state to compel Bello to honour the court summons. This is already becoming too much and totally unacceptable in a sane clime where there is the rule of law.
“Bello and his successor, Governor Usman Ododo, who is aiding and abetting him from long arms of the law should be told once and for all that Nigeria is not a Banana Republic, but a country governed by law and order; and all citizens must obey the law, no matter their status and political leaning,” the statement added.
