The Federal High Court, Abuja, has adjourned till April 23 for ruling on the application by EFCC, seeking a substituted service of the charge on Bello.
Justice Emeka Nwite fixed the date after counsel for the EFCC, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, and the ex-governor’s lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, presented their arguments for and against the oral application.
When the matter was called for the arraignment of Bello on a 19-count money laundering charge preferred against him, the former governor was not in court.
However, his team of lawyers, including Adeola Adedipe, SAN, was in court.
Mohammed, who announced appearance for Bello, challenged the validity of the charge on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter on the one hand and to have issued the arrest warrant against his client on the other hand.
He informed the court that a preliminary objection had already been filed before the court, to the effect.
The lawyer, who urged the court to vacate the arrest warrant order, said a High Court of Kogi had on February 9, 2024, restrained the anti-graft agency from arresting, detaining or prosecuting Bello.
He said the ruling was on a fundamental rights suit filed by the former governor, and that the EFCC was a party in the matter.
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He added that two of the senior advocates representing the anti-graft agency in the instant charge were also parties to the matter.
Mohammed said the order was challenged by the EFCC at the Court of Appeal and the matter was already fixed for hearing.
He stressed that the arrest warrant the commission surreptitiously got from the court was an attempt to bring the court on a collision course with the Appeal Court.
Bello’s lawyer, who insisted that the issue of jurisdiction was a threshold which the court must address first, argued that the charge ought not to have been filed in view of the appeal.
Mohammed told the court that, contrary to Pinheiro’s submission, the court should direct that he should be served with the charge in the open court since he represented Bello. But the senior lawyer said he was not authorised to receive the charge on his client’s behalf.
He argued that if the commission could not serve Bello personally with the charge, they should formally apply so that the defendant could respond accordingly.
Besides, he insisted that their objection to the whole charge and the arrest warrant on the ground of lack of jurisdiction had not been dealt with.
However, EFCC’s lawyer disagreed with Mohammed’s submission.
Pinheiro said the matter was fixed for Bello’s arraignment and Mohammed, having announced appearance for the ex-governor, could be served in the open court for the matter to proceed.
The court adjourned to April 23 for ruling on substituted service.
Justice Nwite had on Wednesday ordered that EFCC should be issued a warrant for the arrest of Bello despite the subsisting judgment by a Kogi High Court restraining the commission from arresting, detaining, or prosecuting him.
Meanwhile, the EFCC has declared a former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, wanted for offences relating to economic and financial crimes.
This was contained in a notice posted on the commission’s official Facebook page on Thursday.
Part of the notice read, “Former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, is wanted by the EFCC for offences relating to economic and financial crimes to the tune of N80.2bn.
“Anybody with information as to his whereabouts should report immediately to the commission or the nearest police station.”
Bello was billed to be arraigned before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday but evaded arrest at his residence on Wednesday.
EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale had said Bello will be arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite alongside three other suspects, Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman and Abdulsalam Hudu, on 19-count charges bordering on money laundering to the tune of N80, 246,470, 088.88.
Bello’s arraignment is coming on the heels of a warrant of arrest and enrolment order granted the EFCC by the court on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Count one of the charges reads: That you, Yahaya Adoza Bello, Ali Bello, Dauda Suliman, and Abdulsalam Hudu (Still at large), sometime, in February, 2016, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to convert the total sum of N80, 246,470, 088.88, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of your unlawful activity to wit – criminal breach of trust – and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(a) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the Money Laundering ( Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended”.
Count 17 of the charges reads: “That you Yahaya Bello between 26th July 2021 to 6th April 2022 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court aided E-Traders International Limited to conceal the aggregate sum of N3,081,804,654.00 in account number 1451458080 domiciled in Access Bank, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful activity to wit – criminal breach of trust – and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(a), 15(2) (d) of the Money Laundering ( Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under Section 15( 3) of the same Act.
Count 18 of the charges reads: “That you Yahaya Adoza Bello sometime in November 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court indirectly procured E-Traders international Limited to transfer the aggregate sum of $570,330.00 to account number 4266644272 domiciled in TD Bank, United States of America, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful activity to wit – criminal breach of trust – and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2) (d) of the Money Laundering ( Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under Section 15( 3) of the same Act”.
The EFCC spokesperson also said the commission’s attempt to execute the Warrant of Arrest lawfully obtained against Bello met stiff resistance on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
“The security cordon around the former governor’s residence in Abuja was breached by the current governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, who ensured that the suspect was spirited away in his official vehicle. As a responsible law enforcement agency, the EFCC exercised restraint in the face of the provocation, waiting for his arraignment on Thursday, April 18, 2024.
“It is needful to state that Bello is not above the law and would be brought to justice as soon as possible,” the EFCC said.