Judge Compels Ex-Kogi Gov, Yahaya Bello to Appear in Court

* Fixes June 13 for arraignment

Alex Enumah in Abuja

Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court in Abuja, yesterday, granted the application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the former Governor of Kogi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to appear in court for his trial.
Nwite, in a ruling reiterated that an applicant or defendant who disobeyed the orders of a court of competent jurisdiction was not entitled to be heard by the court.
The judge while remarking that even if his orders were issued in error, “the humble thing for him to do is to make himself available in court.”
The court had in a ruling on April 23, ordered the service of the charge containing money laundering allegations against Bello, on his lawyer, Mr. AbdulWahab Mohammed.

The judge had predicated his decision on grounds that having appeared for Bello in the last proceedings, it was only proper that Mohammed received the charge on behalf of the defendant.
After taking submissions from parties, Justice Nwite had fixed May 10, for ruling.
Delivering ruling yesterday, the court agreed with the EFCC that until Bello makes himself available in court for arraignment, the court cannot take his applications or even hear him.

Nwite in the ruling lamented that despite Bello’s awareness of the court’s orders made on April 17 and 18 and the service of the charge on April 23, the defendant blatantly refused to appear in court in the guise of pending applications, adding that the conduct of the defendant, “clearly shows his intention not to appear before the court”.
According to the judge, his orders for the arrest and arraignment of Bello subsisted until it was set aside, pointing out that the defendant’s refusal to obey his orders are deliberate ploy to truncate the trial.

The judge stated that Bello “cannot sit in the comfort of his house” while his lawyers are filing various applications to frustrate the trial.
Meanwhile, the judge berated counsel representing Bello for allowing their client to take the court for granted and ordered that until Bello appears before the court, none of his applications can be taken.
Justice Nwite also refused an attempt by Bello’s lawyer to defer the arraignment of the defendant pending the outcome of an appeal at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.
Mohammed, who had alleged that Bello’s safety is a major concern, prayed for time to bring Bello to court, adding that “we don’t know where he is”.
EFCC’s lawyer, while assuring that nothing would happen to Bello, stated that the commission has never killed anyone and would not start with the former Kogi governor.

Following the pledge that he would do everything to bring Bello in court, Justice Nwite subsequently adjourned till June 13 for Bello’s arraignment.
The court had in a ruling on April 17, ordered the EFCC to arrest Bello and produce him in court on Thursday, April 18, for arraignment.
However, an attempt to arrest Bello at his Abuja residence on April 17, was foiled by alleged person with immunity.
Since then the whereabouts of Bello remain unclear.
Others to be arraigned alongside Bello, according to the 19-count criminal charge are his nephew, Ali Bello, who is the Chief of Staff to incumbent Governor Ododo, one Dauda Suleiman and Abdulsalam Hudu.

Specifically, the anti-graft agency is accusing the trio of laundering the total sum of N80, 246, 470, 088.88, belonging to the state.
Part of the charge against the defendants 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 amongst 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.”