I’m willing to appear in court, but afraid of arrest Yahaya Bello
Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi, says his failure to appear before a federal high court in Abuja is due to fear of arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC is seeking to arraign Bello on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.
Although the arraignment was initially scheduled for April 18, Bello was absent from court on the day.
At the resumed court session on Tuesday, Adeola Adedipe, a member of Bello’s legal team, said his client would have appeared in court but was worried about being taken into custody.
“The defendant wants to come to court but he is afraid that there is an order of arrest hanging on his head,” Adedipe said.
He asked the court to revoke the warrant of arrest issued on April 17 against the former governor.
Adedipe argued that the charge had not been served on his client as required by law at the time the warrant of arrest was made.
“As at the time the warrant was issued, the order for substituted service had not been made. That order was just made this morning,” he said.
“A warrant of arrest should not be hanging on his neck when we leave this court,” counsel to the defendant added.
However, Kemi Pinheiro, EFCC’s lawyer, argued that for the arrest warrant to be vacated, the former governor must be arraigned and take his plea.
Earlier, Emeka Nwite, presiding judge, made an order directing that the defendant should be served the charges by substituted means through his lawyers.
The court has fixed May 10 to rule on the application to vacate the warrant of arrest.
Olukoyede Vows To Resign If Yahaya Bello Is Not Prosecuted
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has sworn to follow the prosecution of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, to logical conclusion.
In a chat with journalists at the EFCC Headquarters in the Jabi area of Abuja on Tuesday, the anti-graft chairman vowed to resign as EFCC chairman if Bello is not prosecuted.
He vowed that all those who obstructed the arrest of the former governor would be brought to book.
The Chairman of EFCC, Ola Olukoyede has said the embattled former governor of Kogi ,Yahaya Bello, withdrew $720,000 from the government account to a Bureau de Change to pay for his child’s school fees in advance #CTVTweets pic.twitter.com/oG0KvisWQ7
The EFCC is seeking to arraign Bello on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.
He said that no matter what anyone does or the amount of attack against the anti-graft agency, he and his men will not relent in helping to sanitise the country.
Olukoyede said the EFCC needs the support of Nigerians to succeed as he emphasised that if the agency fails, Nigeria fails. He stated that the efforts made currently has helped the value of the Naira and the foreign market.
Legal Fireworks
Meanwhile, the EFCC has served a copy of the charge sheet of alleged fraud to the tune of N80bn against the immediate past governor on his lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohamed.
This followed a Tuesday order by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja after Bello’s absence in court.
He was absent from court for his arraignment on a 19-count charge of alleged money laundering to the tune of ₦80bn.
The judge relied on section 384 (4 and 5) of the Administrative and Criminal Justice Act 2015, directing the counsel to the immediate past governor to receive a copy of the charge.
The court held that where it had become impossible to effect personal service of a legal process on a defendant, such could be done through substituted means.
Justice Nwite further held that it was clear that the former governor failed to appear in court for his arraignment.
Although Bello’s lawyer, Mohammed, initially declined to accept the charges and proof of evidence, he was compelled to do so by Justice Nwite.
The judge rejected the plea by the senior lawyer that a junior lawyer in his team, AI Musa, be the one to accept the charges on behalf of the former governor.
A member of the legal team for Bello, Adedayo Adedipe, told the court that his client would have made himself available, but was afraid of being of a lack of fair hearing and justice.
He added that Bello was ready to appear before the court to answer the 19-count charge preferred against him by the EFCC.
Adedipe urged the court, to set aside the ex-parte order of arrest it had earlier issued against the former governor, saying that at the time the order of arrest was made, the charge had not been served on his client.
Illegal Organisation?
Bello had argued that the EFCC was an illegal organisation. According to him, the Federal Government did not consult the 36 states of the federation before enacting the EFCC Act through the National Assembly. He added that section 12 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, required the various Houses of Assembly to ratify the act before it could become operative.
Counsel to the EFCC, Kemi Phinheiro, however, urged the court to dismiss the application, insisting that the warrant of arrest should not be set aside until the defendant makes himself available for trial.
He argued that Bello did not have the legal ground to file numerous applications while in hiding.
Justice Nwite had last week issued a bench warrant against Bello following an application to that effect by EFCC.
The EFCC subsequently declared the former governor wanted for his persistent absence in court and for evading the criminal charges against him.
