Former Governor of Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Tuesday, claimed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is harassing him.<\/p>\n
Bello made the accusation in a statement made available in Abuja by his media office signed by an officer, Michael Ohiare, in reaction to EFCC\u2019s rebuttal on alleged disobedience to court order in the case filed against him.<\/p>\n
The anti-graft agency had, in a statement titled: \u201cRe: Yahaya Bello: EFCC Never Disobeyed Court Order,\u201d reacted to the allegation.<\/p>\n
But reacting, Ohiare said that contrary to the commission\u2019s claims, \u201cofficial records and court documents relating to their hounding of Alhaji Yahaya Bello establish a clear timeline of events.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that these documents were endorsed with dates and times of filing and payments, \u201cwhich are endorsed on court processes \u2013 all of which testify to the true sequence of events.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cOur attention has been drawn to a publication\/press statement with the above title, issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, 22nd April, 2024, and signed by Wilson Uwujaren, its Acting Director of Public Affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the said statement, which the commission carefully circulated widely as usual, Mr. Uwujaren, who we have to believe is not a lawyer, continues the EFCC\u2019s ongoing unconscionable lies against the former Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Yahaya Bello, CON, by labelling him as a fugitive from justice in order to disingenuously justify their established and willful patter of defying lawful court orders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giving details of how the statement of the anti-corruption commission was allegedly untrue, Ohiare said in the first instance, EFCC had never invited the ex-governor formally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EFCC claims to have invited Alhaji Yahaya Bello immediately after his tenure ended on January 27th, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe challenge the EFCC to produce a copy of this invitation, including the delivery date and the recipient\u2019s name\/endorsement. We are confident they cannot provide this simple evidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On alleged preemptive charge:, he said prior to any alleged invitation, the EFCC amended Charge No. FHC\/ABJ\/CR\/550\/22 on Feb. 5, 2023, to accuse Bello of conspiring to convert over N80 billion of Kogi\u2019s funds in September 2015.<\/p>\n
According to him, this amendment listed Yahaya Bello as \u201cstill at large,\u201d demonstrating a clear intention to arrest him.<\/p>\n
On alleged impossible accusations, he said \u201cthe alleged timelines provided by the EFCC for its phantasmagorical allegations of crime against Yahaya Bello predates his Inauguration as Governor of Kogi State on January 27th, 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides, he said the second charge even attempted to correct the initial blunder and said the crime was committed in February 2016, less than a month after Bello became governor.<\/p>\n
But Ohiare said the total Kogi budget in 2016 was significantly less than the sum alleged in the charges.<\/p>\n
He said to protect his reputation and fundamental rights, the former governor filed fundamental rights enforcement action in Suit No. HCL\/68M\/2024 with the High Court of Justice, Kogi on February 8.<\/p>\n
He said court records, even from the EFCC, all substantiated this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe High Court granted an order restraining the EFCC from inviting, arresting, or prosecuting Alhaji Yahaya Bello pending the determination of the Originating Motion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis order was served on the EFCC on February 12th, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the order, the EFCC, represented by Senior Advocates Rotimi Oyedepo and J.S Okutepa, filed Charge No. FHC\/ABJ\/CR\/98\/2024 against Yahaya Bello on March 6th, 2024, in violation of the order.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EFCC\u2019s ex-parte warrant is another false narrative,\u201d he alleged.<\/p>\n
Ohiare said the commission falsely implied that the EFCC sought a warrant of arrest only after the Kogi High Court\u2019s ruling on April 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ruling was at about 2pm. Records will show that the motion was filed at 8:24 am on April 17th, prior to the ruling.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Nigerians would testify to the fact that, at that time, EFCC agents had already laid siege on his residence, attempting his arrest. These are clear occurrences that cannot be denied.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EFCC failed to present the warrant at Yahaya Bello\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe warrant itself is invalid, being obtained in defiance of a court order and based on misleading statements, as Alhaji Yahaya Bello is a defendant and not a fleeing suspect or a suspect, having been charged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judgment of the High Court of Justice, Kogi State, on April 17th, 2024, highlights the EFCC\u2019s abuse of its statutory duties.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe urge the public to denounce these unlawful transgressions until the EFCC undertakes a comprehensive reform of its practices<\/p>\n
\u201cIn conclusion, it is clear that the EFCC is engaged in a campaign of intimidation and harassment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlhaji Yahaya Bello is not afraid of the EFCC. His demand is that the rule of law be respected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Governor of Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Tuesday, claimed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is harassing him. Bello made the accusation in a statement made available in Abuja by his media office signed by an officer, Michael Ohiare, in reaction to EFCC\u2019s rebuttal on alleged disobedience to court order in the case […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-91383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/journalist101.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/322707ff-yahaya-bello.jpg?fit=320%2C214&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4LVjE-nLV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91383"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91385,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91383\/revisions\/91385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}