EFCC logo, Yahaya Bello
The embarrassing drama involving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, in the final analysis, is a metaphor for the rot and collapse of effective justice system and feeble attitude of the federal government to the prosecution of graft in whatever guise.
Yahaya Bello is a former governor that is longer covered by immunity, and is open to prosecution for alleged financial crimes said to have been committed as governor of Kogi State. The prosecuting agency is a federal institution, how come the federal government has not deployed its might to assist the agency to apprehend Bello, Is the federal government afraid of him?
Recently, Darius Ishiaku, former Taraba State governor was in the EFCC custody over questions on his financial stewardship as governor. Many past governors have been investigated and prosecuted by the agency. How come the Bello case has assumed intractable invincibility, Are there powerful vested interests in the corridors of power shielding Bello from prosecution for political reasons?
NATIONAL WAVES views the quietude and apathy of the federal ministry of justice and the Tinubu administration to the case with suspicion as millions of Nigerians have expressed similar sentiment.
The charges against Bello keep piling up. Only last week, there was a new twist.
On Thursday, a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, summoned Bello, for arraignment on October 24.
According to the summons, Bello is to be arraigned alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu following 16 fresh charges brought against them by the EFCC.
It’s a shame of the Nation that Bello had previously been declared wanted after Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued an arrest warrant on him on April 17. Yet, this embarrassing drama in the eyes of the international community has portrayed the country in bad light, and it would seem a minus for the current administration’s drive for investment. A nation that gives light treatment to corruption cannot be taken serious for investment.
Bello has consistently failed to appear before Justice Nwite’s court, where he was to answer 19 counts bordering on money laundering and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2billion.
Justice Maryanne Anenih, before whom fresh charges have been filed against the former governor, ruled on Thursday that Bello must appear before the court to answer the new 16 counts against him.
Justice Anenih’s summons follows an application by the EFCC that it had been unable to serve Bello with the charge filed on September 24, in which Bello and the other defendants were charged with criminal breach of trust to the tune of N110.4billion.
Justice Anenih, while delivering the ruling, ordered the EFCC to publish the public summons in a widely circulating newspaper.
She also ordered the EFCC to paste copies of the public summons on Bello’s last known address and in conspicuous places on the court premises.
Bello was billed to appear Thursday in court for his arraignment in the fresh charge brought against him but his absence stalled the scheduled arraignment.
The parlance: “corruption will fight back” has never been more evident. Corruption fights back in several forms. Currently, one of the forms it is fighting back is the propaganda that the EFCC ’s pursuit of Yahaya Bello is a political witch-hunt.
There is also the problem of division, which is another way corruption is fighting back. Unlike the earlier form, this instance is somewhat organic. Nigeria in recent times has become so polarized across several lines that ascribing imaginary motives to almost every action or complaint is fast becoming the order of the day.
One of the analogies in this regard is: when someone comes out to complain about a pothole on the road, which is visible to everyone and affecting the tyres of the car of road users, rather than focus on the problem, people would want to know where the complainer is from. Some would even want to know the political affiliation of the person complaining. This is the sad point we are in this country.
And unfortunately, the EFCC has also been caught in this web, as there are some persons drumming support for the narrative that the agency is doing the bidding of Bello’s political enemies. This notion has been gaining traction since the failed attempt to apprehend Bello in April.
Even some members of the Kogi State House of Assembly have joined the bandwagon to peddle this narrative.
During last week’s plenary in Lokoja, some lawmakers condemned EFCC’s most recent siege to the Kogi State’s Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, in an attempt to arrest Bello. As a result, the lawmakers called for the dismissal of the EFCC chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede.
It is shameful to say the least that lawmakers who were elected by the people to represent them seem to be playing politics with a case bothering on the alleged misappropriation of funds belonging to the people. What have the lawmakers said about Bello evading arrest and refusing to appear in court to defend himself, or are they trying to lend credence to those who say Bello is still in charge of the state through his proxy, Governor Usman Ododo?
According to the chairman of the EFCC, one of the reasons Bello gave for avoiding the EFCC in a telephone conversation was that he believed that ‘’a certain lady has surrounded the EFCC with over 100 journalists to embarrass him.’’
The EFCC boss revealed this in April while addressing media executives at the Corporate Headquarters of the agency.
“On my honour, I put a call to him to honour him as a former governor. He said, I can’t come, claiming that a certain lady has surrounded the EFCC with over 100 Journalists to embarrass or intimidate him and all that stuff. I said if that is your fear, I will make you come directly to my floor. I will invite my operatives to interrogate you in my own office. What could be more honourable than that? Do you know what he said? ‘Can’t they come to my village?’ My Director of Investigations also sent a message to him”, he said.
” I have a few questions for those who are not trying to entertain any other conversation other than the chase being a political one. Let’s assume some people are out to get Bello for political reasons. And let’s also assume that he looted the state’s treasury. Was it with the help of those who are trying to ‘humiliate’ him today? Were they the ones who encouraged him to misuse public funds?
In other words, if it has been established that he misappropriated funds belonging to the people of Kogi State, is it the fault of his political enemies who are out to get him?
If he is innocent, shouldn’t he be in court to defend himself? If he is evading arrest because he thinks ‘’a certain lady has surrounded EFCC with journalists to embarrass him’’ is he also avoiding the court for the same reasons?
Many would argue that the allegations levelled against the former Kogi governor is in line with what many Kogi civil servants went through when Bello was at the helm of affairs.
Many of them were not receiving their full salaries due to the screening process for ghost workers. Also, the bailout funds he received from President Muhammadu Buhari was allegedly not commensurate with the level of development in the state during his tenure.
The EFCC boss, Olukoyede said he was worried at the report of larceny available to the EFCC concerning the former governor. “A sitting governor, because he knew he was going, he moved money directly from the government’s account to a bureau de change to pay his children’s school fees in advance, $720,000, in anticipation that he was going to leave government house”, he said.
On the Bello case, the federal government must declare its stand. An individual cannot be more powerful than the institutions of the state. Enough is enough!
Tinubu must stand up for anti-corruption and the only way to do this is to deploy the arsenal of intelligence and state powers to aid the EFCC in arresting Bello
