The residence of Yahaya Bello, the immediate former governor of Kogi State, is blocked by agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Wuse, Abuja. According to kluemedia, the EFCC siege is scheduled to occur a few days following the former governor and President Bola Tinubu’s meeting at the State House. There is now no movement in or near the residence at Benghazi Street, Wuse Zone 4 in the federal capital of the country, according to reliable information.
A reliable source released a photo on Wednesday that demonstrated how EFCC agents blocked the entrance to the Bello family’s home. “EFCC barricades Bello’s house in Abuja,” the source stated. There was no movement as the EFCC blocked access to the residence. They have not yet obtained entry.
The reason the anti-graft agency invaded the former governor’s home was unknown at the time, but it may have something to do with the N84 billion fraud case the EFCC is pursuing against him. The former governor was accused of financial wrongdoing totaling N84 billion by the EFCC. In September 2015, four months before he took office, Bello was accused by the anti-graft agency of stealing N80 billion in public funds, according to an amended indictment. Remember that Bello’s nephew Ali Bello was charged by the EFCC before the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges of allegedly laundering N10 billion that belonged to the State government.
The State Government refuted the accusation, calling it “laughable” and “ridiculous,” and claimed that it was not feasible because the previous governor was not yet in a position to misuse or access state funds at the relevant time. The state government charged the EFCC on February 7, 2024, saying it was “infested with persons whose intents disagree with the noble intention of ‘Mr. President’ to defeat corruption in Nigeria,” in a statement signed by Kingsley Fanwo, the Commissioner for Information and Communications. The Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja’s Justice James Omotosho heard a case brought by the EFCC against former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello, alleging N84 billion in money laundering.The EFCC announced that it is prosecuting Bello’s nephew Ali Bello, Dauda Sulaiman, and Abdulsalam Hudu on an amended 17-count charge of money laundering, breach of trust, and theft of funds totaling N84, 062,406,089.88. In the updated allegation, the anti-graft bureau asserted that former governor Bello remains at large.”That you, Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman, Yahaya Adoza Bello (still at large), and Abdulsalam Hudu (still at large), sometime in September, 2015 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired among yourselves to convert the total sum of N80,246,470,089.88 (Eighty Billion, Two Hundred and Forty-six Million, Four Hundred and Seventy Thousand, Eighty-nine Naira, Eighty-eight Kobo), which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of your unlawful activity, namely: criminal breach of trust, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(b) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended.
Ali Bello and Suleiman, the first and second defendants, respectively, who were present in court, “pleaded not guilty” to all the allegations after they were read to them, while Hudu and former governor Yahaya Bello remain at large.