……as court fixes Feb 24 for trial

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA–The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Friday, granted bail to the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to the tune of N500million with two sureties in the like sum.

The court, in the ruling that was delivered by trial Justice Emeka Nwite, stressed that the sureties must be owners of landed properties in Abuja.

Aside from directing the sureties to tender title documents of the properties which must be verified by the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court, Justice Nwite equally ordered them to swear to an affidavit of means.

According to the court, both the defendant and the sureties must submit their recent passport photographs. 

It further ordered the former governor to surrender his international passport and not travel outside the country without permission.

The court held that the defendant should remain at Kuje prison, pending the perfection of the bail conditions.

It subsequently slated February 24 and 28 for the commencement of full blown hearing on the 19-count money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against the defendant.Bello, who  piloted the affairs of Kogi state from 2016 to 2024, had before the ruling, pleaded his innocence to his alleged complicity in an  N80.2 billion fraud.

Specifically, the EFCC alleged that he used five proxies to acquire 13 choice properties in highbrow areas of Abuja and Dubai.It told the court that the properties were acquired with proceeds of crime. 
Besides, the anti-graft agency alleged that the former governor attempted to conceal over N3bn by handing same to proxies to keep for him.

It further told the court that the defendant wired over $700, 000 to an account he maintained with a bank in the United States of America, USA, in breach of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act. 

Among those that were fingered in the alleged fraud, included the former governor’s nephew, Ali Bello and four others-  Dauda Suleiman, Shehu Bello, Rabiu Musa and Abdulsalam Hudu who is currently at large.

According to the EFCC, the defendant, by his action, committed public breach of trust, contrary to section 18(a) and (c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, and punishable under section 15 of the same Act.Meanwhile, Bello, through his team of lawyers led by a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. J. B. Daudu, SAN, pleaded the court to admit him to bail, pending the determination of the charge against him.

Pleading that he will not escape from the country if granted bail, the defendant drew the attention of the court to the fact that he was a two-term governor of Kogi state.

He pledged to provide reasonable persons that would stand surety for him.

More so, ex-Gov Bello begged Justice Nwite over his initial failure to make himself available for trial, saying he was only exploring legal avenues to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to try him on the allegations the EFCC levelled against him.

“I want to plead and to correct any impression that may have been created that the defendant did not wish to appear before your lordship for his arraignment. 

“What he did, which is not an anathema in law, was to direct his counsel to challenge the jurisdiction of the court. The matter went from the Appeal Court to the Supreme Court before it returned back to this court. 

“I was not a wilful disrespect. He acted with the believe that he was trying to defend himself as best as possible. He holds this court and by extension, my lord, in very high esteem.

“What transpired then was an episode that could have been avoided. It has come and passed and we mean no harm to this court. Things are clearer now. 

“The defendant, being a two-term governor of Kogi state who travelled only twice throughout his tenure, I can assure my lord that he will be available for his trial. There should be no apprehension that he will jump bail,” Daudu, SAN, pleaded.

On his part, counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, said he was not opposed to the defendant’s request for bail.

He, however, urged the court to impose conditions that will compel his attendance to his trial. 

In his ruling, Justice Nwite maintained that the issue of bail is at the discretion of the court despite an agreement the defence lawyer said he had with the prosecution counsel.

Justice Nwite said he would have ordinarily denied the defendant bail in view of the antecedent of the case and the conduct of lawyers that hitherto represented the former governor.

However, referencing the “candour” of Bello’s new lawyer, Justice Nwite said he was “minded to bend from my earlier stand over this matter.”

It will be recalled that Justice Nwite had on April 17, issued a warrant for the arrest of the former governor following his repeated failure to appear before the court for his arraignment.

Effort by operatives of the EFCC to execute the arrest order at his residence in Abuja was allegedly thwarted by the incumbent governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Ododo, who was said to have whisked him away in his official car.

Nevertheless, after months of hide-and-seek, Bello on November 26, surrendered himself to the anti-graft agency which docked him before an Abuja High Court at Maitama, the next day, on another 16-count charge that bordered on alleged N110million fraud.

Justice Maryann Anenih of the Abuja court had last Friday, remanded the defendant in Kuje prison after he was denied bail on the premise that the application was filed on November 22, about four days before he was taken into custody by the EFCC.

Though the court granted his two co-defendants bail in the sum of N300m each, it struck out ex-governor Bello’s application, describing it as premature and incompetent.

The court adjourned further proceedings in the case till January 29.