Former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Thursday, failed to respond to a summons for arraignment before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja. This latest case involves allegations of N110 billion fraud.
Justice Maryann Anenih had issued the summons on 3 October, and also granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) permission for substituted service of the charges and accompanying documents, in lieu of personally serving them on the defendant.
On 25 September, EFCC filed the fraud charges involving an alleged N10 billion in Kogi State government funds, while still scrambling to arraign Bello in a separate N80 billion money laundering case before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Both cases before the two separate courts involve alleged diversion of the state government’s funds during Bello’s eight-year tenure as governor.
In the case that came up on Thursday, the EFCC charged the former governor, alongside two others – Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu.
The 16 counts alleged in the case centre on allegations of criminal breach of trust involving alleged diversion of more than N110 billion entrusted in Bello’s care as Kogi State governor. The anti-graft agency said Bello and his co-defendants diverted this fund in 2016, his first year in office.
Following his absence from court on Thursday, EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), pleaded with Justice Anenih to adjourn the case until the time when the summons she issued to the former governor elapses on 14 November.
Oyedepo reminded the court of a public summons it issued during the previous proceedings against the former governor directing that same be published and that the charge be pasted.
Justice Anenih, however, interjected, stating that she did not give an order that the charges be pasted alongside the summons.
Oyedepo, who admitted, said he expected Bello to be in court, even though the 30-day duration of the summons would lapse on 14 November.
The prosecutor therefore sought an adjournment until 14 November for arraignment of the three defendants.
However, a defence lawyer, Joseph Daudu, also a SAN, objected to Oyedepo’s application.
The senior lawyer said that since the matter was scheduled for arraignment for Thursday, he and his client were ready to proceed, stressing that each defendant is independent and should be so treated.
“You cannot be using somebody as a human shield when they are not in hostage. I don’t like this practice”, he said.
Daudu said that, if the prosecution was not ready to proceed with the case, the defendants, who were already in court, should be discharged.
The other defence lawyer, Mohammed Aliyu (SAN), who represented another defendant, aligned with Daudu’s submission.
Aliyu said, in the alternative, he would be asking the court to take his client’s application for bail.
Oyedepo, however, disagreed with the defence.
He said that the application for bail could not be taken since the case, which alleges conspiracy, is a joint trial.
The prosecutor insisted that the court should adjourn till 14 November and noted that he had received a enforcement of fundamental rights filed by the second defendant.
He argued that the application for bail cannot be taken until the arraignment of the three defendants.
Daudu, however, argued that Oyedepo’s position negated the principles of fair hearing.
“His argument is persuasive but does not go by what the law says.
“That until one individual appears before they can be arraigned. I don’t understand this kind of practice.
“It is an affront to fair hearing because the privilege of fair hearing allows us to raise any issue. Keeping them for 10 years will have no impact.
“They have enjoyed administrative bail before with the EFCC, so it won’t hurt their pride if they give them”, he said.
Besides, Daudu alleged that EFCC abused the court process when it obtained an order to remand the defendants at a magistrate court, even when the matter was already before the high court.
“That is the abuse”, he said.
A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Daudu also asked for a date for the fundamental rights application of his client.
Although the judge refused the oral application for bail, she advised the defendants to formialise their request by filling written applications.
The N110 billion fraud case involves various counts alleging that the former governor dishonestly acquired for himself properties located in choice areas of Abuja and one in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, with funds he allegedly diverted from the state government’s treasury.
For instance, the commission said that Bello took N100 million from the government’s treasury to buy himself a property at 1160 Cadastral Zone C03, Gwarimpa II, Abuja, in 2021.
It alleged he bought another property at 35, Danubi Street, Maitama, Abuja, for himself with N950 million belonging to the state in 2023.
He allegedly bought another one at 2, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa Street, Asokoro, Abuja, with N920 million belonging to the state in 2020.
In another count, the commission alleged that Bello took N100 million from the Kogi State Government to buy himself a property known as Block D, Manzini Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.
The new case increases the pressure on Mr Bello, who was fighting a prolonged battle to stave off the Federal High Court trial before the fresh charges were filed against him.
In April, the EFCC made a futile attempt to arrest Bello at his residence in Abuja. The police officers stationed at the house helped him to obstruct EFCC operatives’ move to execute a court’s arrest warrant on him. The standoff was still on when the then newly elected Kogi State governor, Alhaji Usman Ododo, arrived there and facilitated Bello’s escape.
However, the EFCC did not arrest Bello when he surrendered at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on 18 September. Instead, it dispatched operatives to make another unsuccessful attempt to arrest him at the Kogi State Government House in Asokoro, Abuja, later that same day. The EFCC would later cite “backend intelligence” as its reason for not arresting Bello, despite having declared him wanted since April.
Meanwhile, when the next court session scheduled for Bello to appear for arraignment came on 25 September, he refused to show up. His lawyer, who appeared on his behalf, cited an appeal he filed at the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appeal’s judgements ordering him to surrender for trial.
The judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, rescheduled the arraignment to 30 October.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria
