By Abiola Olawale
Embattled past Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has said that he is willing to appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja on a 19-count charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) slammed against him.
However, the former governor said he is only willing to appear if the court can restrain the EFCC from arresting him.
Bello’s legal counsel made this assertion during court proceedings on Tuesday, April 23. Though Bello was absent for his arraignment, his legal team, who addressed the court on his behalf, prayed it to set aside the ex-parte order, which granted the EFCC an arrest warrant against him.
A member of Bello’s legal team, Mr. Adeola Adedipe (SAN), argued that the EFCC had been attempting to arrest his client before obtaining the arrest warrant.
Adedipe argued: “The defendant wants to come to court but he is afraid that there is an order of arrest hanging on his head.
“As at the time the warrant was issued, the order for substituted service had not been made. That order was just made this morning.
“A warrant of arrest should not be hanging on his neck when we leave this court,” counsel added.
The ex-governor described the EFCC is an illegal organisation, saying the Federal Government did not consult the 36 States of the federation before it enacted the EFCC Act through the National Assembly.
He argued that section 12 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, required the various Houses of Assembly of the states to ratify the Act before it could become operative.
Adedipe continued: “This is a very serious matter that borders on the Constitution and the tenets of federalism. It has to be resolved because, as it stands, the EFCC is an illegal organisation.”
However, EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), urged the court to refuse the application, insisting that the warrant of arrest should not be set aside until the defendant makes himself available for his trial.
Pinheiro argued: “The defendant cannot stay in hiding and be filing numerous applications. He cannot ask for the arrest order to be vacated until and when the defendant is present in court for his arraignment. He cannot be heard on that applied application.
“The main issue should be ascertaining the whereabouts of the defendant. All these applications he is filing are nothing but dilatory tactics intended to delay his arraignment and frustrate the proceedings.
“If he wants the order of arrest to be discharged, let him come here and make the application.
“Our position is that the defendant should be denied the right of being heard until he is physically present before this court.”
Subsequently, the court granted an order permitting the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to serve the former governor through his lawyers.
The presiding judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, ordered that the charges of alleged N80 billion fraud filed by the EFCC against Bello be served through his lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed.
The judge granted the order following prayers from the EFCC on substituted service on Bello.
It would be recalled that the EFCC and Bello had a faceoff last week after the anti-graft agency moved to arrest him.
The EFCC had attempted to arrest the former governor in a bid to arraign him on 19 counts bordering on money laundering, breach of trust, and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2bn.
Bello had evaded the arrest, arguing that the EFCC had no right to arrest him, relying on an interim order granted by the Kogi High Court.
