Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
Coalition of anti-corruption groups led by Anti- Corruption and Research-based Data Initiative (ARDI) has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to follow due process in the prosecution of the former Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello.
Recall that the former governor is under investigation for alleged embezzlement of a whooping sum of N80.2 billion.
However, addressing a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja, John Ozigbo, said the coalition had over the last few weeks followed with keen interest the current impasse between the EFCC and Bello, which culminated in the raid on his private residence in Abuja.
According to him, Our concern hinges on the need for both parties to work within the ambit of the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to avoid subjecting the War on Corruption in this country to further odium in the eyes of right-thinking people, as well as do our bit to avert the ongoing and needless overheating of our polity.
The coalition claimed that the anti-graft agency has not extended to Bello the customary investigation to visit her offices for the purposes of assisting her in any investigations.
It stressed that it could not also find evidence anywhere, no matter how remote, where the Commission has asserted that she did extend such an invitation to him.
Ozugbi said the coalition knows that the Commission would usually send an invitation letter, and often several reminders, to a respondent in any petition before even seeking warrants of arrest, and certainly long before taking drastic actions like the raid she conducted last Thursday.
He added: “The attempt by officers of the EFCC to arrest Alhaji Yahaya Bello is in flagrant disregard of a subsisting court order that comprehensively bars her from doing so based on a determination that their actions in the entire circumstances of the case amounts to actual and threatened breach of sundry of his fundamental human rights
“The EFCC is currently at the Appeal Court to challenge that subsisting order of the High Court of Kogi State and the Appellate Court has insisted that parties should maintain the status quo pending determination of the appeal. We are convinced that the EFCC has breached both the principles of sanctity of court orders and pendency of suits by her subsequent actions.
“This informs our conclusion that the EFCC’s raid on Yahaya Bello’s Residence at No 9 Benghazi Street, Zone 4, Wuse, Abuja on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 is in disobedience of subsisting orders of courts and practice procedure, making it both regrettable and an aberration under the Rule of Law.”
It further recalled that EFCC under the leadership of Abdul Rasheed Bawa had previously accused Bello of hiding the sum of 20 billion being bail-out money due to Kogi State in a Sterling Bank account, and for his own aggrandizement and personal enrichment
It said from 2022 when it first became breaking news at the instance of the EFCC till today, the agency could not substantiate that particular allegation against Bello in any court of law with the same energy with which it tried and found him guilty of it in the media.
The coalition stressed that as it is, those allegations seemed to have evaporated with the exit of Bawa as Chairman while new allegations have surfaced under the newest leadership.
It said the inconsistencies in the allegations by the EFCC against Bello clearly shows that the allegations lack substance.
