By Kolawole Ojebisi
Immediate past Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, has been issued a summons by a High Court in the Federal Capital Territory to appear before it on October 24, 2024.
Bello’s appearance according to the summons will signal his arraignment in connection with 16 fresh charges brought against in by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).
The immediate past Kogi governor is to be arraigned alongside two co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu.
Bello has been embroiled in financial misappropriation allegations ever since the completion of his eight-year tenure which automatically stripped him of the immunity he enjoyed while in power as constitutionally stipulated.
The former governor had previously been declared wanted after Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued an arrest warrant against him on April 17.
Bello had previously failed to honour court summons on five occasions to face 19 charges bordering on money laundering and misappropriation of N80.2 billion.
The previous invitation he failed to honour was before Justice Nwite’s court while the new charges have been filed before Justice Maryanne Anenih.
Ruling on Thursday, Justice Anenih ordered Bello to present himself before the court to defend the latest allegations of criminal breach of trust involving N110.4 billion.
The summons follows an application by the EFCC, which stated that it had been unable to serve Bello with the new charges filed on September 24.
The EFCC claimed that Bello and his co-defendants misappropriated funds entrusted to them.
In her ruling, Justice Anenih directed the EFCC to publish the public summons in a widely circulated newspaper and to paste copies of the summons at Bello’s last known address and in visible locations within the court premises.
Bello was expected to appear in court on Thursday for arraignment on the fresh charges, but his absence once again stalled the proceedings.
The EFCC and the former Kogi State governor have been engaging in war of words recently.
While the commission has kept saying the Bello’s dossiers during his reign as governor leave much to be desired, the former governor has insisted his records are clean as he has no skeleton in his cupboard.
This development has sparked off series of accusations and counter accusations between the two parties.
The EFCC once brought a witness to the court who testified that he received $300, 000 from the former governor.
The witness who is an Abuja-based Bureau de Change operator named Jamilu Abdullahi narrated in detail to court how the money, which was purportedly from state account, was brought to him in cash for his company to pay the school fees of his three daughters.
