Get Serious, Stop Farce Surrounding Yahaya Bello’s Case, HURIWA Tells EFCC

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, advised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to get serious in its handling of the high-profile case involving former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello.

HURIWA expressed deep dissatisfaction with the confusion and mixed signals surrounding Bello’s visit to the EFCC headquarters, condemning the agency’s lack of clarity, coordination, and seriousness in addressing the matter.

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA which observed that Bello, who had been declared wanted by the EFCC for alleged involvement in a N80.2 billion money laundering case, reportedly paid a visit to the agency’s office in Abuja.

It lamented that conflicting reports from the EFCC and the former governor’s media team muddled the situation, raising questions about the agency’s competence and the integrity of its anti-corruption efforts.

HURIWA said the rights group had in the light of the contradictions, launched a scathing critique of EFCC’s handling of the situation, describing it as a “charade” and calling for immediate reforms within the agency.

The human rights group argued that the confusion surrounding Yahaya Bello’s case exemplified the broader dysfunction within Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutions, which it believed had become increasingly entangled in political theatrics rather than focusing on the actual business of combating graft.

“This hide-and-seek game with Yahaya Bello is nothing short of a coordinated farce and an unpardonable gimmick. It is absolutely unacceptable.

“The EFCC must stop this charade and get serious with the enforcement of Nigeria’s anti-graft laws, or else the entire management must be uprooted if the country is to have any hope of waging a decisive war on corruption,” the statement read in part.