Yahaya Bello’s curious ways

By Ola Abdul-Fatah

You need a huge dose of patience plus a heart of steel to read and process the details of the two charges preferred against former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The first, a 19-count charge, seems easier to understand, bordering mainly on alleged conspiracy to commit an illegal act, and money laundering to the tune of N80 billion. The second and shorter charge is more problematic for the reader to understand.

The 16-count charge sheet suggests a carefully calculated plot to carve out substantial parts of the Federal Capital Territory and make them the exclusive properties of Alhaji Bello and two other suspects, in the manner of the 18th-century colonialists who butchered Africa and shared the parts among themselves.

The only difference in the Bello case is that EFCC alleges that he and his co-defendants used money stolen from the Kogi State coffers to prosecute the quest. A bit of Dubai adds intrigue to the alleged plot.

Let’s sample the details of the 16-count charge, which is said to be N110 billion. The EFCC alleges that Bello and the two others used funds from the Kogi State government to acquire properties in choice areas of the FCT, and in the United Arab Emirates.

One of such properties, according to the anti-corruption agency, is at Danube Street in the Maitama district. Another is said to be in Gwarimpa, and another in the Guzape area of the Asokoro district.

Bello and the other two are also alleged to have acquired properties in Wuse1, and Wuse2.

The Commission claimed that the three defendants acquired a property in Dubai in the UAE as well, using money belonging to Kogi State, where Bello was governor for eight years.

This sounds like the stuff of fiction and the movies. If the courts were to prove that indeed Bello and the others did acquire such properties and that they did so legally, that would likely put them in the league of the world’s wealthiest real estate owners.

They and their families would lack nothing for life.

The problem is Bello doesn’t want to come to court. Not even in the hopes that he might win, clear his name, and be awarded hefty damages.

He just doesn’t want to show up and be put in the dock. But what is Bello afraid of? In April, the EFCC declared Bello wanted after several attempts to arrest him were botched thanks to the protective ring Governor Usman Ododo, a protégé of Bello, has thrown around his wanted godfather.

Yahaya Bello sure has his ways. He would rather enjoy the momentary safety offered by his godson than present himself for trial.

In June, through his lawyers, he wrote to the Chief Judge of the FCT, Justice John Tsoho, asking that his case be transferred in his home state. He has frustrated several judges by failing to appear before them in scheduled cases.

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court is still waiting for him in the N80 billion money laundering case. Bello has also failed to show up in the N110 billion breach of trust case, forcing Justice Maryanne Anenih of an FCT court to issue a public summons against him. In fact, Justice Anenih ordered that Bello could be served by substituted means.

This means that if Bello can’t be served in person, the summons can be pasted at the gate of his Abuja residence and the EFCC should publish it in several newspapers. That sums up the frustration of the Bench in bringing Bello to trial.

The former governor is not merely content to shun the courts. He also thinks that the EFCC is the problem.

Through his media aides, he has been lecturing the anti-corruption agency on how to go about its duties, alleging that the Commission or its leadership wants to bring him down either for personal reasons or to satisfy the desires of some unnamed persons. Bello accuses the EFCC of fighting corruption using illegal means and suggests that Nigeria has become a laughing stock as a result. Nothing can be more ridiculous. Nigeria is a laughing stock in the eyes of the world because its leadership has elevated corruption to a state art.

Bello has two serious charges hanging over him, one to the tune of N80 billion, the other N110 billion. He is alleged to have illegally taken his people’s money to buy for himself properties in high-brow areas in the FCT, and also overseas.

This should worry any man or woman of honour. Such a person of integrity would be concerned about what his people would think of him or her.

Curiously, Bello thinks the way only Bello thinks. He even says the charges against him are trumped-up. Really? But if they are, he has a duty to clear his name in court. Making the case look like a fight between him and the EFCC, as his media team seems to be doing, is not the way to prove his innocence. Neither is his walk into the EFCC car park with Governor Ododo. The car park is a car park, not a court of law. The incumbent governor of Kogi State is not charged for anything, at least not yet. He has immunity as long as he is governor. The best place for Bello to clear his name is the court. Nowhere else will do. Enough of his antics.