AT the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has placed the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, on its watchlist and directed its area and zonal commands to arrest him if seen.
Recall that the EFCC had asked all security agencies to place Bello on their watchlist to prevent him from leaving the country “through any land, air or sea borders.”
The anti-graft agency is prosecuting Bello over corruption charges for which he was arraigned in court on Thursday, April 18.
In granting the request, NIS, in an internal circular, stated that Bello was under investigation and there was a suspicion that he might leave the country to evade investigations.
The circular read: “VERY URGENT PLEASE!!! I am directed to request you to place the above named subject on watch-list with immediate effect.
“Subject has resisted arrest and arraignment, therefore, he may run out of the country anytime. Please, accept the assurances of the CGIS’s warmest regards and esteem.”
Copied in circular are the director general of the Department of State Service (DSS), Inspector General of Police (IGP) and others.
The EFCC had earlier on Thursday declared Bello wanted for an alleged financial crime to the tune of N80.2billion, saying in a bulletin that “anybody with information as to his whereabouts should report immediately to the Commission or the nearest Police station.”
The Federal High Court in Abuja had adjourned the case against Bell, to April 23, after his planned arraignment was stalled due to his absence in court on Thursday, April 18.
EFCC Counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, had lamented Bello’s absence from court for his arraignment, noting that the former governor was being protected by someone with immunity, who prevented his arrest on Wednesday by whisking him away in his official vehicle.
Pinheiro said the agency might seek the help of the military to fish out Bello, so that he could be arraigned.
Bello’s lawyer had argued that the defendant had secured an ex parte order from a High Court restraining the Commission from arresting and prosecuting him, which has been challenged by the agency at the Court of Appeal.
But Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, also on Wednesday, April 17, granted the EFCC permission to arrest Bello.
Based on that, the agency’s operatives attempted to execute the warrant of arrest, but met stiff resistance.
“The security cordon around the former governor’s residence in Abuja was breached by the Governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, who ensured that the suspect was spirited away in his official vehicle.
“As a responsible law enforcement agency, the EFCC exercised restraint in the face of the provocation, waiting for his arraignment on Thursday, April 18, 2024.
“It is needful to state that Bello is not above the law and would be brought to justice as soon as possible,” the Commission stated, in a statement issued on Wednesday night by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale.
Oyewale said Bello was to be arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite, alongside three other suspects, including his cousin, Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman and Abdulsalam Hudu, on 19-count charges bordering on money laundering to the tune of N80,246,470,088.88.
Count one of the charges against Bello reads: “That you, Yahaya Adoza Bello, Ali Bello, Dauda Suliman and Abdulsalam Hudu (still at large), sometime in February, 2016, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired among yourselves to convert the total sum of N80,246,470,088.88 (eighty billion, two hundred and forty-six million, four hundred and seventy thousand and eight nine naira, eighty eight kobo), which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of your unlawful activity to wit, criminal breach of trust and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(a) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended.”
