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Yahaya Bello took $720k from state coffers to pay his child’s school fees— EFCC Chairman
Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), says Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi, withdrew
$720,000 from the state’s coffers to pay his child’s school fee in advance.
Olukoyede spoke in Abuja on Tuesday during an interactive
session with media executives.
The EFCC boss alleged that the former Kogi governor
transferred money from the state coffers to a bureau de change operator, and
used the money for his child’s school fee in advance.
Olukoyede added that Bello made the payment in anticipation
that his tenure was gradually coming to an end.
“A sitting governor, because he knew he was leaving office,
moved money directly from the government to bureau de change and used it to pay
his child’s school fee in advance,” the EFCC boss said.
“Over $720,000 in anticipation that he was going to leave the
government house. In a poor state like Kogi, you want me to close my eyes under
the guise of ‘I’m being used’. Used by who? At this stage of my life.”
Olukoyede said he inherited the case file of the former Kogi
governor, noting that he did not initiate the investigation against Bello.
On April 17, EFCC operatives laid siege on Bello’s residence
in Abuja to arrest him over alleged N80 billion fraud.
While the EFCC operatives were at Bello’s residence, Usman
Ododo, governor of Kogi, came to visit his predecessor.
Shortly after Ododo departed from the residence, the EFCC
operatives also left the house.
Bello was reportedly rescued by Ododo when he departed his
residence located in the Wuse Zone 4 district of Abuja.
Subsequently, the anti-graft agency declared the former
governor wanted.
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has also placed Bello
on a watchlist.
The anti-graft agency alleged that Bello, alongside Alli
Bello, chief of staff to Ododo; and one Daudu Suleiman, diverted about N80.2
billion belonging to the Kogi government.
