EFCC Quenches Earlier Stance on Yahaya Bello’s Fraud Allegations, Declares Former Kogi Gov. Innocent Until Proven Guilty by Court
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has retracted from its earlier stance to intensify the prosecution of former Kogi State Governor over allegations of money laundering and misappropriation of funds estimated at over ₦80 billion.
Yahaya Bello, the former Governor of Kogi State, is facing a 19-count charge of money laundering, breach of trust, and misappropriation of public funds amounting to N80.2 billion.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had alleged that Bello used five proxies to acquire 13 properties in high-brow areas of Abuja and Dubai, and also wired over $700,000 to an account in the United States.
In the peak of the prosecution, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede vowed to resign as EFCC chairman if the embattled Yahaya Bello, is not prosecuted and swore to follow the prosecution of Bello to the logical conclusion.
However, speaking in a televised interview monitored by our correspondent, the EFCC Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwuajeren, explained that criminal prosecution in Nigeria takes time and involves the presentation of evidence and witnesses before the court.
He said the EFCC is currently prosecuting the case by presenting witnesses and evidence, stressing that the outcome will be decided solely by the court.
Uwuajeren noted that under the Nigerian Constitution, any person standing trial is presumed innocent until proven guilty, adding that Bello’s status within his political party has nothing to do with the charges filed against him.
According to him, the EFCC has no interest in party politics and is only focused on faithfully prosecuting the charges before the court.
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He said: “One thing we need to understand how criminal prosecution works in Nigeria. It takes some time before you prove some of these challenges in court. Like, as I speak to you, the trial is still ongoing before the courts.
“We are presenting witnesses, we have presented evidence. It is not the commission that is going to decide the matter. It’s the court that will decide the matter. All we need to do is to follow the prosecution how is going on in the court, and ensure at the end of the day, both the prosecution and the defense get justice.
“But having said that, Yaya Bello, as we speak, is under trial, but the Constitution presumes that anyone who is under trial to be innocent until that case is proven. So whatever is happening to him within his party, that is the party affairs. It has nothing to do with the EFCC. It has nothing to do with the charge that we are filed before the court.
“So the responsibility that we owe Nigeria is to be faithful to the charges that we have filed against him in the court, and we are prosecuting those charges religiously. Nothing has happened, nothing has gone amiss in terms of that and we are committed to doing that.
