Alleged N80bn Money Laundering: Yahaya Bello’s Absence In Court Stalls Arraignment

The much-anticipated arraignment of the former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, for alleged over N80 billion in money laundering at a Federal High Court was stalled on Thursday following his absence in court.

The defendant’s lawyer said there is an ex-parte order restraining EFCC from arresting and prosecuting the former governor, which EFCC appealed against at the Court of Appeal.

Recall that a High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, restrained the EFCC from infringing on the fundamental human rights of Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

In a two-hour judgment delivered on Wednesday, at the High Court 4 and presided over by Hon. Justice I. A Jamil, in suit no HCL/68/M/2020, the court restrained the EFCC from arresting, detaining, and prosecuting the applicant except as authorised by the Court.

This is a definite order following the earlier interim injunction given.

The judgment followed the suit brought before the court by Alhaji Yahaya Bello, the applicant, seeking to enforce his fundamental rights against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The Court equally restrained the respondents from continuing to persecute the applicant.

Earlier in the judgement, the Court dismissed the issue of jurisdiction as challenged by the EFCC.

The Applicant’s counsel, SA Abbas and MS Yusuf, described the judgment as a landmark while the
Defendant Counsel, T.U Odima and Patrick O. Jibril also aligned themselves to the judgment, describing it as thorough.