Sceptism between erstwhile Governor Yahaya Bello and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission rages after his exit from Government House, at the expiration of his eight years tenure, writes KUNLE ODEREMI.
BARELY weeks after Alhaji Yahaya Bello rounded off his two terms of four years each in office as the governor of Kogi State, two issues recently thrust him forward. One was the sudden flooding of posters proclaiming that he was itching to take over as the national chairman of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). As usual, the news easily went viral, not necessarily because of his personality but due to the implication of such move for the current occupant of the seat and immediate past governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. In spontaneity, both the national headquarters of the ruling party and Yahaya Bello reacted to the development. While the APC leadership said there was no vacancy whatsoever in the National Executive Committee of the party. On his part, the former governor disowned the said campaign posters, saying he was not nursing such ambition. He accused his detractors of yet embarking on what he and his admirers described as a grand and orchestrated plot to impugn his character and integrity and cause disaffection between him and other main stakeholders in the political space, especially in the APC.
But the dust arising from the controversial posters on his speculated bid to torpedo the tenure of Ganduje hard hardly settled, when various media platforms were abuzz with reports of fresh charges bordering on malfeasance while in office, filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The commission was said to have amended charges leveled against other suspects in an ongoing matter to include an alleged diversion of N80 billion belonging to the Kogi State government by Yahaya Bello. However, it was later discovered that there was a mixed up in the matter, as there was no iota of truth that he had indeed been charged for any allegation. The rmedia report necessitated the state Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, to make a quick clarification following wide spread insinuations, claims and counter-claims. Fanwo, in a statement condemned the amendment carried out by the EFCC, on the said charges against those facing trial on the ongoing case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022 before James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja. Fanwo noted that the count ridiculously stated that the offence took place around September 2015 at a time Bello had yet to assume office. “Being ‘at large’ of course means that a person is evading arrest or is on the run and cannot be found after an attempt to arrest,” the statement stated. The government expressed its displeasure that the EFCC could amend a current charge, FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022, before the Federal High Court in Abuja in a bid to prosecute Bello.
Post-election scenario
APC candidate Usman Ododo polled 446, 237 votes to defeat Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who placed second with 259,052 votes, while Senator Dino Melaye, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was third position with 46,362 votes. According to the loyalists and admirers of Bello, factors that paved the way for Ododo to win were the footprints of Bello. Some of his legacies include infrastructures that span the Revenue House, Reference Hospital Okene, General Hospital Gegu in Kogi local government area, General Hospital in Isanlu in Yagba East, General Hospital in Adogo in Ajaokuta local government area, rehabilitation of Prince Abubakar Audu University Teaching Hospital, Anyigba in Dekina local government, as well as the Kogi rice mills in Yagba West, establishment of University of Science and Technology, Osara in Kogi Central, establishment of new Kogi State University in Kabba, Kabba/Bunu local government area of the State. So, at the dusk of his tenure, personalities, including the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, commended his exceptional achievements in the state. Abubakar, in a commendation letter he personally signed and addressed to Bello, noted that various infrastructural projects he intitiated had opened up the state as one of Nigeria’s main trade routes. The NIA boss noted that the governor was leaving the North Central state more prosperous, developed and transformed. Similarly, the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the November 11 election in Kogi, Honourable Leke Abejide, paid a courtesy visit to Bello, to congratulate him for the peaceful conduct of the election and wished him well in his future endeavours as he prepared to hand over to Ododo. Abejide, representing Yagba Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, commended Bello for what he described as notable achievements by his administration and declared his support for the Ododo. Ex-Governor Wada Idris equally acknowledged Bello’s good work.
2022 episode
In 2022, while Bello was still in office, the Kogi government had accused the EFCC under the embattled Rasheed Bawa, of colluding with his “political opponents” in an alleged “bid to satisfy certain political interests.” Kingsley Fanwo, who was the Commissioner for information and communications, had called on the Inspector-General of police (IGP) to commit Bawa to prison as “mandated by a competent court of jurisdiction.” A high court sitting in Kogi in February 2022 ordered that Bawa be remanded at the Kuje correctional centre over contempt of court. Presiding Justice R.O. Ayoola, also ordered the IGP to ensure the committal order was executed, and awarded N10 million against the EFCC. On December 12, 2022, the judge ruled in favour of Bello over his arrest and detention by the EFCC. Fanwo accused the commission of media trial, adding that no amount of such would distract Yahaya Bello, as Kogi governor. “Our attention has been drawn to series of press statements and terribly woven media campaign against the Kogi State Government and the Governor of Kogi State by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,” the statement reads. According to him, no funds are missing from the coffers of the Kogi government. “We reiterate that funds belonging to the Kogi State Government are not missing and we retain our enviable status in the areas of transparency, accountability and probity,” he said.
Before he left office, the government had raised the alarm on a plot to smear his name. It alleged an orchestrated move to impugn his name and character. He therefore called on the public to be wary of the antics of those he described as desperate few bent on dragging his name into the mud. It was yet another phase of what was perceived by the government, Bello and his admirers as the long drawn battle with Bello and those his admirers called traducers who failed to appreciate his contributions to the economic growth and development as well as infrastructure outlay of the North central state in the last eight years. Bello was useful in APC as the fulcrum for youth mobilisation, to sustain the party in power at the federal and state levels. His feats and strides were recognized and acknowledged by lots of prominent individuals and mass-based organisations at home and at the global level, which won Kogi accolades and awards from reputable international bodies like agencies of the United Nations.
In what his camp perceived as another stanza in the script came the onslaught by EFCC to file some charges against Bello on alleged malfeasance while in office. The anti-graft agencies slammed an amended charge but which spontaneously attracted rebuke from his supporters, loyalists and supporters with the state government moving briskly to renounce the action. The clarifications were contained in a statement signed on behalf of the government by the commissioner for information.
The statement signed by the Commissioner for Information in Kogi State, Kingsley Fanwo, stated: “The fact that the EFCC, in charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022: FRN V. 1. Ali Bello 2. Dauda Suleiman, currently pending before Honorable Justice J.K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division further amended the ‘Amended Charge’ to include in the count, the name of H.E Yahaya Bello, describing him as being “at large”, is ridiculous, laughable and portrays the EFCC as an agency infested with persons whose intents disagree with the noble intention of Mr. President to defeat corruption in Nigeria. Being ‘at large’ of course means that a person is evading arrest or are on the run and cannot be found after an attempt to arrest. For the sake of clarity, the original charge is against Ali Bello and Dauda Suleiman, Ali’s associate. The offence which H.E Yahaya Bello is alleged to have committed upon which he has been named in the count is conspiracy 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 offence is said to have occurred on or about September 2015 in Abuja. “H.E Yahaya Bello could therefore not have as of September 2015 conspired with anyone, including Abdulsalami Hudu, a Kogi Government House Cashier to convert any money belonging to the Kogi State Government. It is to be noted that H.E Yahaya Bello before becoming the Governor of Kogi State had no financial dealings with the Kogi State Government which could have permitted him to convert monies belonging to the Kogi State Government, hence, one’s dismay at the allegation.”
The government warned political actors to and desist from their campaign of calumny “as the state government has not said its money is missing, and has been adjudged, both locally and internationally, as top in the area of transparency and accountability.” It asked for “unreserved apologies to the Nigerian people for making us a laughing stock in the comity of nations,” as well as on President to step in to save the integrity of the EFCC. “The Kogi State Government under the leadership of His Excellency Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo will continue to support the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President. We will also continue to promote probity, accountability and transparency and open our books to agencies and institutions constitutionally empowered to look into them. We will continue to win awards in transparency and accountability,” the government added.
According to Fanwo, the journey did not begin today, recalling, “In 2021, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in a desperate bid to embarrass the Government of Kogi State then under the leadership of His Excellency Alhaji Yahaya Bello, came out with a false claim that it had uncovered over N20 billion of the state’s bailout fund in a Fixed Deposit Account in Sterling Bank. Emboldened by its innocence, the Kogi State Government wrote a letter to Sterling Bank for clarifications. The Bank came out clean that the state government had no such account with it, rubbishing the blatant falsehood of the EFCC in a manner that was so embarrassing to the people and Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
According to some observers, the dingdong between the Kogi government and Yahaya Bello on one hand, and the EFCC in another, raises some critical questions. One of the posers has to do with due diligence in pursuing such a sensitive matter that bothers on the integrity of an individual or institution. The second teaser is about the claim by the state government that its funds are intact. The third question is on the allegation of a smear campaign by perceived detractors.
