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Tag: Yahaya Bello

  • Yahaya Bello rejects EFCC’s offer to suspend arrest order’s execution

    Yahaya Bello rejects EFCC’s offer to suspend arrest order’s execution

    …as court orders service of charge on ex-gov’s lawyer

    Former Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, has rejected an offer by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to suspend the execution of the arrest warrant issued against him on April 17 by a Federal High Court in Abuja if he would attend court physically.

    Bello’s lawyer, Adeola Adedipe (SAN) while speaking before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, April 23, said the offer made by EFCC’s Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) was unacceptable to his client because the said offer is unknown to law.

    Pinheiro had told the court that he was willing to give an undertaking that the arrest order would not be executed if Bello’s lawyers could equally give an undertaking that their client would attend court on the next adjourned date to be arraigned on the money laundering charge pending against him.

    The EFCC lawyer added he would also apply that the arrest order should be set aside if Bello attended court on the next date.

    Responding, Adedipe said: “We cannot accept the offer. The offer is not known to law.”

    Earlier in a ruling, Justice Emeka Nwite granted the EFCC’s application for the service of the charge on Bello through substituted means, by handing it, along with the proof of evidence, to the ex-governor’s lawyer.

    Justice Nwite overruled Bello’s lawyer’s objection to substituted service.

    He held that the lawyer could not decline to accept the documents on behalf of his client having appeared in the case unconditionally and having also filed some applications for the defendant.

    Shortly after the ruling, the charge and accompanying documents were handed to Bello’s lead lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed (SAN), who accepted them in open court and signed for them.

    Following the service of the charge on the defendant’s lawyer, Adedipe applied orally that the warrant of arrest issued against his client should be vacated.

    Adedipe cited Section 394 Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) and argued that the arrest order was inchoate because necessary conductions were not met before the court was misled by the EFCC to issue the order.

    When reminded that the defendant had earlier filed an application to that effect, Adedipe opted to argue the application, a move Pinheiro objected to.

    Pinheiro cited Section Section 396(2) of the ACJA and argued that the court could not hear any of the applications filed by the defendant without him being arraigned first.

    Read Also: Ondo: EFCC probes N60b looted in six months

    The EFCC lawyer identified three pending applications filed by the defendant including the one filed on April 12 in which he is challenging the jurisdiction of the court; the second, dated April 19 seeking to set aside a warrant of arrest, and the third one, dated April 22.

    “All these applications could only be argued and determined after the plea of the defendant in view of the provision of Section 396(2) of the ACJA.

    “Criminal jurisdiction is activated only after the arraignment of the defendant. It is only after that that the defendant can be allowed to raise any application or objection before this court.

    “Section 396(2) of the ACJA does not distinguish between any forms of objection. It applies to all forms of objection in criminal cases. It covers both objections to the jurisdiction of the court or the competence of the charge,” Pinheiro said.

    He urged the court not to entertain any of the applications in the absence of the defendant in court.

    Responding, Adedipe argued otherwise and urged the court to deploy its inherent powers to hear the applications filed by the defendant.

    Adedipe noted that the court deployed its inherent powers in the proceedings conducted on April 17 during which the arrest warrant was issued and on April 18 when the prosecution applied for substituted service of the charge on the defendant.

    The defence lawyer argued that it would be unfair and unjust to his client for him to be expected to come to court when an arrest warrant was hanging on his head.

    He urged the court to discountenance the prosecution’s objection to the hearing of the defendant’s pending applications before his arraignment.

    Also arguing for the defendant, Mohammed said the type of objection, raised by the defendant in his notice of objection, is that which questioned the jurisdiction of the court to hear the charge.

    Mohammed said the objection was challenging the competence of the EFCC to file the charge.

    “We are saying that the EFCC is illegal,” Mohammed said, arguing that it is the defendant’s contention that the EFCC is not a legal body because the law creating it was not ratified by all the State Houses of Assembly as required.

    He argued that since the EFCC was created pursuant to the United Nations Convention on Corruption, the EFCC Act ought to be ratified by states’ Houses of Assembly.

    Mohammed argued that since Nigeria is a federation, the Federal Government cannot sit in Abuja and be policing the affairs of the states.

    Pinheiro however faulted Mohammed’s argument, insisting that the issue about the legality of the EFCC had been resolved years ago

    He added that the case against Bello is not against Kogi State or the state’s House of Assembly, but against an individual, who is alleged to have laundered money about N84billion public funds to buy property in Abuja and other cities, and directly transferred money to his account abroad.

    Justice Nwite has adjourned till May 10 for the ruling.

  • Court to deliver ruling in Yahaya Bello’s application to vacate arrest warrant May 10

    Court to deliver ruling in Yahaya Bello’s application to vacate arrest warrant May 10

    A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, fixed May 10 for ruling on an application by former Governor of Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, seeking an order of setting aside the April 17 arrest warrant issued against him.

    Justice Emeka Nwite fixed the date after counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, and the ex-governor’s lawyer, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, adopted their processes and presented their arguments in the motion.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Nwite had, April 17, issued an arrest warrant to EFCC for Bello’s arrest.

    The order was made after lawyer to the anti-graft agency, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, moved the ex-parte application to the effect.

    The EFCC had also, on April 18, made an application for a substituted service of its bundies of charge and proof of evidence against Bello after the ex-governor’s lead lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, declined to receive the documents in the open court.

    The judge then adjourned until today for ruling.

    However, after the judge directed the EFCC to effect the service of the charge and proof of evidence on Mohammed, who announced an unconditional appearance for Bello in the last adjourned date, Adedipe therefore prayed the court to set aside the arrest warrant.

    He argued that the arrest warrant order, having been made before the charge ought to be set aside suo motu (on its own accord, without any request by the parties involved).

    The senior lawyer argued that contrary to Pinheiro’s submission that the ex-governor must be in court first before any application could be entertained being a criminal case, he said the anti-graft agency also made an application on April 18 after the warrant arrest was issued to EFCC on April 17 and that the court granted it

    According to him, the complainant made an application for substituted service on 18th day of April after the arrest warrant had been issued on 17th day of April and today, my noble lord granted it.

    Read Also: Yahaya Bello: EFCC’s Gestapo tactics and rule of law

    “The court must satisfy itself that the defendant (Bello) will not be prejudiced in fairness if the warrant of arrest continues to hang on his neck, having been made before service of the charge contrary to Section 394 of ACJA,” Adeola argued.

    He argued that justice should be a three-way traffic; that is, justice to the prosecution, the defendant and the public.

    He said for Bello to appear in court, he must have the notion that he would get justice.

    But Pinheiro argued that for the arrest warrant to be vacated, the former governor must be arraigned and took his plea..

    {NAN)

  • JUST IN: I am willing to appear in court, but afraid of arrest – Yahaya Bello

    JUST IN: I am willing to appear in court, but afraid of arrest – Yahaya Bello

    Embattled former governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello stated that he is ready to confront the Federal High Court in Abuja regarding the 19-count indictment filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Adeola Adedipe, SAN, a member of his legal team, said his client would have appeared in court but was worried about being taken into custody.

    He said: “The defendant wants to come to court but he is afraid that there is an order of arrest hanging on his head.”

    He asked the court to revoke the exparte order of arrest it had previously imposed on 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.

    Read Also: Yahaya Bello: EFCC’s Gestapo tactics and rule of law

    He noted that it was only at the resumed proceedings on Tuesday that the court okayed substituted service of the charge on the defendant, through his lawyer.

    “As at the time the warrant was issued, the order for substituted service had not been made. That order was just made this morning.

    “A warrant of arrest should not be hanging on his neck when we leave this court,” counsel to the defendant added.

  • Yahaya Bello: NBA disowns protest by lawyers

    Yahaya Bello: NBA disowns protest by lawyers

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Tuesday, disclaimed a protest by lawyers over what they called the illegal approach of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in handling its allegations against former Governor of Kogi, Yahaya Bello

    The no fewer than 500 legal practitioners from across the country on Monday, stormed the Supreme Court complex.

    The lawyers, under the umbrella of judicial watchdogs, faulted the siege on the ex-Gov’s residence, in a bid to arrest him, inspite of  a valid court order to the contrary, which had not been vacated.

    Meanwhile, in a short notice to newsmen on Tuesday, the NBA through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Habeeb Lawal, says the group of protesters are not lawyers.

    The notice reads: “The above report refers.

    Read Also: Yahaya Bello: EFCC’s Gestapo tactics and rule of law

    “The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is aware that some news outlets have reported this news.

    “Please be informed that while the NBA respects the rights of citizens to assemble and protest, we insist that this particular group of persons are not lawyers.

    “For completeness, their supposed leader or convener Sylvanus K. Alewu is not a name known to us,” he said

    (NAN)

  • Yahaya Bello as fugitive

    Yahaya Bello as fugitive

    Former Governor, Yahaya Bello, of Kogi state, who evaded arrest in Abuja last week, allegedly with the aid of his successor, Governor Usman Ododo, may prefer to be a fugitive, rather than submit himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The commission had accused him of laundering N80.2 billion, while he governed Kogi state. The attorney general of the federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, was short of naming Governor Dodo, as one of those who conspired to obstruct the course of justice, to aid Bello escape the EFCC’s drag net. 

    According to media report, while EFCC laid siege on Bello’s house in Abuja, Governor Ododo drove into the premises, and using official cover, scurried fugitive Bello into safety. There were reports of heavy gun shots as the governor drove out of the premises, and only the two men knows where Bello, is now hiding like a coward. Just like when he ruled Kogi, he seems to have coaxed Governor Ododo, to break the law.

    Governor Ododo and other beneficiaries from Yahaya Bello’s tenure, have been very audacious is declaring their former principal innocent, even before he faces trial in court. Before the recent attempt to arrest him, Ododo and company have been shouting from Kogi state’s roof top that no money is missing from the state coffers. Clearly, Ododo and his cohorts learnt no lessons from the James Ibori saga, where like Ododo, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, did everything humanly possible, to shield Ibori, from prosecution for crimes committed against Delta state.

    In Delta, like Kogi, the state officials kept claiming that no money was missing, to pervert the cause of justice, but woke up to demand for the returned monies, when after a trial in Britain, Ibori was convicted and millions of stolen foreign denominated monies, were returned to Nigeria. Interestingly, the trial of Ibori in Nigeria, yielded nothing, apparently because the state government may have refused to collaborate with the prosecution team, or even destroyed evidence needed to prosecute the various cases filed against him.

    Read Also: Graça Machel: Meet woman who became First Lady of two different countries

    Such is the desperation of the governor of Kogi state to prevent the trial of his predecessor, that he had to abuse his office to ensure that a law enforcement agency, the EFCC, is prevented from performing its lawful duty. Interestingly, few hours after allegedly conspiring to flagrantly pervert the course of justice, Governor Dodo, was entrusted with presiding over the Ondo state All Progress Congress (APC) party governorship primary election.

    While he may have been penciled down for that responsibility before his display of undemocratic conduct in Abuja, last week, his performance in Ondo is stymied in controversy. Those who lost to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the declared winner, have called the party primary election that Ododo supervised, a sham. According to them, there were no elections in several wards across the local government councils. Whether the losers are merely sour, or are saying the truth, will be seen in the coming days.

    But for a person who was flagrantly willing to obstruct the course of justice, to be entrusted with birthing a free, fair and transparent election, is like asking a blacksmith to keep custody of a white linen cloth. Considering that the criminal code and penal code have substantially similar provisions, let’s take a cursory look at the criminal code, and what it portends for those who are preventing the EFCC, from carrying out its statutory duties.

    Section 145 of the criminal code provides: “any person who willfully obstructs or resists any person lawfully charged with the execution of an order or warrant of any court, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable to imprisonment for one year, or a fine of two hundred naira”. Section 126 of the code also provides: “any person who conspires with another to obstruct, prevent, pervert, or defeat the course of justice is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.”

    Sub-section (2), further provides: “any person who attempts, in any way not specially defined in this code, to obstruct, prevent, pervert, or defeat the course of justice is guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to imprisonment for two years.” Another provision which may interest the government officials, is section 123 of the code. It provides: “any person who, knowing that any book, document or other thing of any kind, is or may be required in evidence in a judicial proceeding, willfully removes, conceals or destroys it or renders it illegible or undecipherable or incapable of identification, with intent thereby to prevent it from being used in evidence is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for three years.”

    Governor Yahaya Bello’s saga, is not likely to end soon, as he appears determined to evade the course of justice. As this column is written, there are tales that he wants to flee the country, even though the EFCC had declared him wanted. The former governor who had called himself the white lion, is surprisingly behaving like a coward, and fugitive from justice. During Bello’s reelection campaign, he gave the impression that he was a fearless warlord, and people like the querulous PDP gubernatorial candidate, Senator Dino Melaye, were seen as wimps before the white lion.

    There was the insane allegation that Bello’s cohorts turned the sound of rapid firearms to a musical rattle, to scare their opponents. Sadly, in the run up to his second tenure as governor, there was so much violence in the state. While agreeably, Kogi is reputed to have several kilometers of ungovernable spaces, even before Bello became governor, his style of politics appears to have aggravated the already bad situation. Sadly, again, Bello failed to show gratitude to providence which trusted power to him.

    This column recalls the circumstances that threw the young Bello, who didn’t win his party’s primary, to power, after the sudden death of Prince Abubakar Audu, who apparently would have won the 2015 governorship election, which shortly after his death, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) declared as inconclusive. Perhaps, to consolidate the power trusted on his laps by providence, Bello choose to rule the state with iron fist. If the allegation by the EFCC, is anything to go by, he also ruled with his hands in the state’s cookie jar.

    By running from the long arm of the law, Bello gives the impression that the allegations against him are true, and he is afraid of going to goal. But for how long, and how far, can he run, from the Nigerian criminal justice system, which even favours his ilk? For he is deemed innocent, until proven guilty. Again, if ever he is convicted, he could still come out a hero of his people, if the experience of Ibori and the recently released kidnaper, Wadume, are examples to go by.

  • Yahaya Bello: EFCC’s Gestapo tactics and rule of law

    Yahaya Bello: EFCC’s Gestapo tactics and rule of law

    Prof Abdulakarim Bobade

    Nigerians on Wednesday woke up to the sordid spectacle of a large contingent of heavily armed operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission swooping on an entire street in the nation’s capital, Abuja, and surrounding the home of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello ostensibly to arrest him to face trial on charges that are still being disputed.

    That the EFCC staged its Gestapo-like operation despite the pendency of a court order restraining it from arresting or harassing the former governor betrays its desperation to nail him on charges that are basically flawed and brought to humiliate him at all costs.

    Right-thinking persons cannot but agree that the show at Bello’s house, which played out on social media and live TV was a shameful and unnecessary spectacle, a throwback to the days General Sani Abacha and his goons when life and limb were not worth a penny.

    It is disgraceful that the EFCC, which claims to be an expert agency in investigating and prosecuting corruption cases alleged that Yahaya Bello stole about N80bn along with others from Kogi State’s coffers in September 2015, months before he was sworn in as governor in January 2016. Having realised its blunder, it reworked the charges to indicate the alleged offense was committed in February 2016, just three weeks after Bello took office on January 27, 2016.

    It is worth reiterating that going by the EFCC’s charges, the case against Bello raises more questions than answers and it would be nothing short of a miracle to stand in court.

    The question being asked is: How can someone steal N80 billion in less than a month in office? How much was in the state’s coffers? What was the entire budget for that year?

    In its epic performance in the theatre of absurdities, the EFCC has also demonstrated its disdain for the rule of law by filing the same so-called charges before three different judges of the Federal High Court, Abuja division as it continues fishing for a result similar to one sought by a football lottery player.

    In a country governed by laws of which the EFCC is itself a creation, the basic minimum standard expected is that if indeed it has any case against the former governor, it should not resort to abuse of court processes and prosecutorial powers by jumping from court to court even when the person in question has filed processes to enforce his fundamental rights. The EFCC itself has appealed that ruling. In a decent environment, the EFCC ought to wait for a ruling on that matter before proceeding and not attempt to present the court with a fait accompli by his forceful arrest and detention.

    To make matters worse, the EFCC, through its lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro said in open court that it would enlist the military in effecting Bello’s arrest, even when most Nigerians had thought that those days were over. This only amplifies the suspicions that this whole saga is a deliberate political witch-hunt directed at the former governor hitherto acknowledged as a rising star within the political landscape, especially within the ruling All Progressives Congress, and to truncate any attempt to further his career in politics.

    With these disturbing turn of events, the EFCC seems to have unwittingly presented itself as a tool in the hands of unseen political forces orchestrating a scheme to achieve its own ends at great risk to its credibility. 

    The EFCC was well aware of an order given on Wednesday, April 17, by Justice I.A. Jamil of High Court, in Lokoja, in a substantive judgment enforcing the fundamental human rights of the applicant and restraining the EFCC from arresting, detaining or prosecuting Yahaya Bello based on the criminal charges pending before the said Federal High Court in respect of offences allegedly committed when he was not a governor. 

    Read Also: Alleged N80b fraud: Legal argument begins over EFCC’s bid to arraign Yahaya Bello

    The Commission had also listed his name in an amended charge at a Federal High Court. As if that was not bad enough, it has proceeded again to file the same charge already before two other judges of the Federal High Court before another judge in the same Abuja even when it had filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the restraining order which was slated for hearing on Monday, April, 22, 2024. Why the rush?

    Bello’s media office has demanded an explanation for a situation where three courts in the same Federal High Court, Abuja Division, are saddled with hearing the same charges simultaneously.

    The EFCC boss, Ola Olukoyede, who himself is a lawyer ought to know that blatant disobedience of court orders, abuse of court processes, forum shopping, and sundry underhand tactics in carrying out its mandate is a threat to social cohesion and public order and a law enforcement agency should not be the poster child for such conduct.

    Indeed, this whole episode contradicts Olukoyede’s promise upon assuming office last year to abide by the rule of law in the conduct of EFCC’s operations. He should know that the EFCC cannot afford to choose which orders of the court to obey and which to ignore with the consequence of ridiculing the nation’s criminal justice system and the judiciary at large. Nigeria should not be made a laughing stock in the comity of nations on account of the misdeeds of an agency saddled with enforcing the law.

    Also, it is about time that the EFCC stops its unwholesome practice of invading homes with military style force under the pretext of arresting people. Ordinary citizens, many of them innocent, including students, business people and politicians have all fallen victim to EFCC’s Gestapo operations that do little to portray it in a good light. A person of Bello’s stature could have been invited and that would be it but when trust is lost on account of seemingly frivolous charges, there is bound to be some pushback hence his resort to the courts.

     This is why the presidency is being asked to call the anti-graft agency to order and impress on it that it should not allow itself to be used an as agent of political persecution by a nest of vicious vipers within the system rather than pursuing genuine cases of corruption.

    The political connection in all of these shenanigans and comedy of the absurd, as Bello’s media team pointed out, has been exposed by the composition of the legal team of the EFCC in their purported fresh case. Number two on the list of the EFCC lawyers is J.S. Okutepa, SAN. This EFCC lawyer is also the lead counsel and kinsman to the candidate of the Social Democratic Party at the Tribunal. 

    The same Okutepa SAN is EFCC’s lawyer in the civil suit filed against the EFCC by Yahaya Bello and is aware of the interim order of the court issued against his client restraining it from arresting, inviting and prosecuting him pending the determination of the suit before the Court.

    Yet, during the pendency of that order, which he appealed against, he joined others in causing to be filed, a charge against Yahaya Bello, an action contemptuous of the order of that court. 

    However, despite all its efforts to nail Bello, the Kogi state government had stated unequivocally on many occasions that all its financial records are clean and up-to-date and that there are no missing or stolen funds belonging to the state.

    Nobody can say that the EFCC should not do its job but it needs to put its house in order and conduct extensive investigations to build watertight cases before approaching the courts so that citizens will see that it is implementing its mandate in a fair, clear and transparent manner. That is the essence of the rule of law mantra espoused by its boss.

    Bobade, a political science lecturer, writes from Osun State

  • Appeal Court fails to hear EFCC suit against order restraining ex-Kogi governor’s arrest

    Appeal Court fails to hear EFCC suit against order restraining ex-Kogi governor’s arrest

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday did not sit to hear the appeal lodged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the order of a Kogi High Court which restrained the anti-graft agency from arresting the immediate-past governor, Yahaya Bello.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Kogi court, in a ruling on April 17, restrained the EFCC from arresting, detaining and prosecuting  Bello.

    The judge, I.A Jamil, gave the order in a two-hour judgment delivered in suit no HCL/68/M/2020 in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, on Wednesday.

    The judgment coincided with the  ”siege’ nvasion of Bello’s home in Abuja by EFCC operatives in a bid to arrest him.

    The EFCC is seeking to arraign the former governor on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2billion.

    The anti-graft agency determined to get Bello to face the law for his alleged crime, approached the Federal High Court in Abuja on the same day to get an arrest warrant.

    .The warrant was issued following an ex parte motion filed by the EFCC.

    Read Also: EFCC detains Ondo governorship aspirant Akinterinwa

    In his ruling on the motion, Justice Emeka Nwite also directed that the former governor be produced before him on Thursday, April 18, for arraignment.

    He said, “It is hereby ordered as follows:

    That an order of this honourable court is hereby made directing and/or issuing a warrant for the immediate arrest of the defendant to bring him before this honourable court for arraignment.

    “That case is adjourned until April 18 for arraignment.”

    (NAN)

  • Alleged N80b fraud: Legal argument begins over EFCC’s bid to arraign Yahaya Bello

    Alleged N80b fraud: Legal argument begins over EFCC’s bid to arraign Yahaya Bello

    The legal tussle over the legality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) having the power to arraign former Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello for alleged N80.2 billion fraud will begin today at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.


    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the appellate court is expected to hear EFCC’s application seeking to set aside the interim injunction of a High Court in Kogi barring the commission from arresting the former governor.

    NAN also reports that Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja is expected to deliver a ruling tomorrow on EFCC’s request for the court to grant an order to effect substituted service of the charge on Bello.
    Justice Isa Abdullahi of a Kogi High Court, on February 9, gave an interim order restraining the EFCC from taking any action against Bello, pending the determination of the substantive matter.
    But the EFCC later approached the Court of Appeal on March 11, asking the appellate court to set aside the interim restraining order.
    The commission informed the appellate court that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to assist Bello to escape prosecution for his alleged offence.
    It averred that Bello could not use the lower court to escape invitation, investigation, and possible prosecution.
    But hearing of the EFCC’s appeal over the interim order will also face a fierce legal argument as the Kogi High Court on April 17 delivered its substantive judgment in the matter.
    The court directed the commission to seek the leave of the Court of Appeal before taking further steps against Bello.
    This development indicates that the EFCC will have to appeal against the fresh substantive judgment, get the appellate court’s pronouncement before it can proceed with any action against Bello.

    Also, in the ensuing altercations between the former governor and the EFCC, some Nigerians have faulted the commission’s propriety to prosecute the former governor.

    Others, however, said Bello should submit himself for the commission’s scrutiny, if he has nothing to hide.

    Groups that have condemned the EFCC for allegedly witch-hunting Bello include the North Central Integrity Group and the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL).

    Also, some APC chieftains, including the Chairman of Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG), Jesutega Onokpasa, as well as Abubarkar Iliyasu and Comrade Felix Etedjere, urged sitting governors, former governors and politically exposed persons to stand against what they called the unjust persecution of Yahaya Bello.

    Read Also: Nothing must happen to Yahaya Bello, Ebira Youth Coalition warns

    The APC chieftains, who spoke yesterday in Abuja through Onokpasa, described Bello’s travail as a coordinated witch-hunt.

    He said: “The remedy against an order of court is to vacate the order or to appeal the same and most certainly not for law enforcement to thump its nose against the court and decompose into lawlessness and brigandage…

    “Today, it is Yahaya Bello’s turn; tomorrow, it might be yours.”

    Also, Ebira Land Youths Coalition urged the Federal Government to ensure that the former governor is not put in harm’s way in the course of his ordeal with the EFCC.

    But the Network of Professional Kogi State Youths urged Bello to submit himself to the EFCC for trial over N80 billion money laundering charges levelled against him.

    In a statement by its spokesman Abdulquadri Shuaibu, the network said frowned at Bello’s alleged disregard for the rule of law, including evasion of a lawful arrest.

    It described the former governor’s action as “regrettable, disgraceful and embarrassing”.

    “As a united Coalition representing the citizens of Kogi State, we issue a 24-hour ultimatum to Governor Yahaya Bello to vacate the Government House and surrender to the EFCC or the nearest Police Station. Failure to comply, we will occupy the Government House in a mega protest to ensure Governor Bello’s accountability and safeguard the integrity of our judicial system,” the statement said.

  • Nothing must happen to Yahaya Bello, Ebira Youth Coalition warns

    Nothing must happen to Yahaya Bello, Ebira Youth Coalition warns

    Youths of Ebiraland under the aegis of Ebiraland Youths Coalition have called on the Federal Government to ensure that nothing happens to the immediate past Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello.

    The Youth, in a statement by its Coordinator, Mr Fache Onimisi Moses, said that  some people in high places, conniving with other ethnic bigots from Kogi State, were working tirelessly, not only to put the former governor’s life in the harm’s way, but also to ridicule the entire people of Ebiraland.

    They said the simultaneous actions of the DSS and Police to withdraw the security guards of the former governor, not minding the subsisting Court order restraining EFCC from arresting him, showed the connivance of powerful people, who possibly wanted Bello eliminated by all means.

    “The action of the Police and DSS has now made the former governor vulnerable and the youths of our land will be left with no other options than to defend our own even if it’s with our bare hands if the harassments continue unabated,” the Ebira youths declared.

    The statement called on President Ahmed Tinubu to rise to the occasion to stop the unwarranted harassment of the former governor by EFCC which itself is a creation of the law.

    Read Also: Yahaya Bello: Anti-corruption CSOs condemn unjust application of state power

    It noted that if the commission felt dissatisfied with the restraining order given to the former governor by the State high court, it could use all legal means available to it to vacate the order rather than engaging in its “current shameful actions”.

    The Coalition also advised some youths of the other ethnic groups in the state to be mindful of how they use the social media to malign Yahaya Bello and his ethnic group, nothing that their actions were capable of truncating the peace currently enjoyed in the state.

    The statement reminded the youths of Kogi East of the role played by youths of Central when Former Governor Abubakar Audu was brought to court in handcuffs by the EFCC after he left office.

    It said the youths of Central believed that the humiliation by EFCC was a slap on the collective sensibility of the people of the state and they mobilized to protest right before the court and that made the arraignment almost impossible at that time.

    They therefore cautioned that if some Kogi East youths were now taking to the social media to celebrate Bello’s ordeal and maligning Ebira people, that put their sense of appreciation to question and it has repercussions.

  • Yahaya Bello: Anti-corruption CSOs condemn unjust application of state power

    Yahaya Bello: Anti-corruption CSOs condemn unjust application of state power

    • Say FG’s drastic actions suggest issue is political, beyond corruption
    • Alert FG, public to imminent threats to ex-gov’s life
    • Describe issue of evading arrest as deliberate misinformation
    • Issuing military action threat by EFCC anti-democratic, violation of courtroom

    Hundreds of human rights activists, on Saturday, hit the streets of Lagos to condemn what they described as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s antidemocratic approaches to issues of law enforcement as well as unjust application of state power by the Federal Government.

    The anti-corruption civil society organisations, numbering over 120, along with a huge crowd of members and supporters, stressed that the actions of the Federal Government in the ongoing face-off between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, which took an ugly dimension during the week, suggested that the bone of contention was beyond the EFCC exercising its constitutional responsibility.

    According to them, from the facts and documents obtained on the matter, the EFCC never sent a letter of invitation to ex-Governor Bello.

    The issue of evading arrest, they said, did not therefore exist.

    “Someone who was never invited, who has a valid court order restraining his arrest and harassment, among other reliefs, until the determination of the court case, could not be said to be evading arrest. It is deliberate misinformation to turn the public against the governor,” they said.

    The anti-corruption activists and human rights crusaders specifically condemned the military action threat by an EFCC lawyer, saying that, issuing “such a threat before a judge and inside a court was a violation of the sanctity of the courtroom.”

    The Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, Debo Adeniran, who led other activists during the protest on Saturday, noted that the ongoing disregard for the rule of law was not only about Yahaya Bello.

    “We don’t know who the next victim will be,” he said.

    “If the FG continues in its iniquitous way of trampling on the rule of law by undermining our judicial system, we will mobilise a much larger number of Nigerians to join this pro-democracy struggle. It concerns all Nigerians because we don’t know who the next victim may be,” Adeniran said.

    He called on the Federal Government to first obey all the court orders preceding their own actions in court and then go ahead to vacate them through due processes of law.

    “There is no point in endangering anyone’s life unnecessarily because that’s the situation we believe that Yahaya Bello is in now. If the government doesn’t handle this matter carefully, it may shoot itself on the foot and put all Nigerians in collective injury,” the activists said.

    The activists warned that the government should not instigate anarchy, insisting that democracy is governed by the rule of law and not the rule of force.

    They pointed out that some of them had been in the trenches for over four decades without compromising their stand on justice.

    “Thirty-one years ago when we organised a confrontation with the military for the annulment of the June 12 election by General Ibrahim Babangida’s junta, it was for the cause of justice.

    “Nobody paid us a dime to organise the anti-SAP protests of 1989 that nearly shut down the entire country.

    Read Also: IGP withdraws policemen attached to Yahaya Bello

    “We have organised or participated in many altruistic struggles. In the course of these selfless struggles, many of us were jailed, many were maimed, and a lot lost their lives on the battlefield of the fight for justice. But we have remained undeterred till date. Ours is a thankless sacrifice for humanity. But we are not complaining.

    “We have been on the side of the EFCC in many cases without gratification or prompting. But in this case, we insist that the EFCC is disregarding the rule of law and creating room for anarchy. And this must not be allowed to stand,” they stated.

    The anti-graft CSOs stated, “Our intervention today is to ensure that each side in the ongoing but avoidable tension between the Federal Government through the EFCC, and the immediate former governor of Kogi State gets the justice that is deserved – both the agency and the suspect.

    “We feel that it was totally unnecessary to threaten military action in a civil case because it may escalate beyond proportions and cause devastating even if unintended consequences as suggested by the EFCC through their lawyer.

    “We are hearing now that some citizens of Kogi State are already saying that the FG would be held responsible if anything untoward happens to their former governor.”

    “If the Federal Government insists on inviting the military to intervene in a civil case involving a citizen, it is better they return power to the military so that we know that we are back to ground zero. It is now very clear to all Nigerians that this Yahaya Bello’s saga is far from being about corruption. Come to think of it, how do you accuse a man of stealing an amount that the combined total of its IGR and Federal allocation for two years is not even up to? Why is the FG fishing for chicken inside a river? It doesn’t live there,” one of Nigeria’s lead activists, Gbenga Soloki, said.

    “If anyone doubts our determination to continue fighting for justice on this matter, they should wake up and smell the coffee. We will not relent and neither will we retreat until justice is not only done but seen in this Yahaya Bello’s case. We won’t stop,” a spokesperson for the Coalition of Anti-Corruption Civil Society Organisations Olufemi Lawson added.

    The press conference was led by Comrades Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership CACOL); Sina Loremikan, (Campaign Against Impunity); Declan Ihekhaire, (Activists for Good Governance); Gbenga Soloki, CADOV; Ochiaga Ohaneze, (Ohaneze Youth Council); Funmi Jolade, (Women Democratic Vanguard); Kola Abe, (Centre for Socioeconomic Rights); Ologun Ayodeji, (Transparency and Accountability Group); Femi Lawson, (Centre for Public Accountability) and Gbenga Ganzallo (Media Rights Campaign), among others.