When Ola Olukoyede assumed the chairmanship of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on October 12, 2023, the expectation was that the top honcho would bring to bear his wealth and years of experience to cure the commission of its predilection for bungling cases. Throwing away prima facie cases by the EFCC is legendary.
The EFCC has a knack for arresting a suspect, taking him to the public court in what is called a media trial, pummelled viciously, then it now sits down to think about going to town to shop for evidence for prosecuting its subject.
For a better part of the Yahaya’s Bello’s tenure as Governor of Kogi State, the anti-graft agency, especially under the immediate past Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, and the ex-governor were always squaring up in the wrestling ring. While the EFCC was always devising tactics of weaving charges against the governor, the chief executive learnt to deflate whatever the commission hauled at him. It was such a ding dong affair.
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Recall that the EFCC had arraigned Bello’s nephew, Ali Bello, before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, for alleged money laundering to the tune of N10 billion belonging to the state government. The case had gone on for some time. There was also a time that the governor’s wife was mentioned and almost declared wanted, a case which today does not have a head or tail.
The former First Lady of Kogi State, Rashida Bello, was named in the counts of offence and described as being at large in Charge No: FHC/ABJ/573/2022: FRN V. (1) ALI BELLO (2) ABBA ADAUDU (3) YAKUBU SIYAKA ADABENEGE (4) IYADI SADAT, and was alleged to have conspired to criminally misappropriate over N3 billion, funds allegedly belonging to some Local Government Areas of Kogi State.
It is noteworthy that she was never invited by the EFCC or arrested before branding her as being ‘at large’.
But the recent amendment of charges where former Governor Bello was said to have been involved in corruption even before he was sworn in as governor of the North Central state appears to be the most ridiculous. The anti-graft commission, in an amended charge, accused Bello of diverting N80 billion of state funds in September 2015, four months before he assumed office.
But the state government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, accused the EFCC of being “infested with persons whose intents disagree with the noble intention of ‘Mr. President’ to defeat corruption in Nigeria”. Fanwo, who described the charges as “ridiculous” and “laughable”, argued that it is impossible, as the former governor was not yet in a position to access or misappropriate state funds at the said time.
The Commissioner stated: “The fact that the EFCC, in charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022: FRN V. 1. Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman, currently pending before Honourable Justice J.K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division further amended the ‘Amended Charge’ to include in the count, the name of H.E Yahaya Bello, describing him as being “at large,” is ridiculous, laughable and portrays the EFCC as an agency infested with persons whose intents disagree with the noble intention of Mr President to defeat corruption in Nigeria.”
Fanwo further stated: “For the sake of clarity, the original charge is against Ali Bello and Dauda Suleiman, Ali’s associate. The offence which H.E Yahaya Bello is alleged to have committed upon which he has been named in the count is conspiracy to convert the total sum of N80,246,470,089.88 (Eighty billion, two hundred and forty six million, four hundred and seventy thousand, eighty nine naira, eighty eight kobo) which offence is said to have occurred on or about September 2015 in Abuja. His co-conspirators according to the count are Abdulsalami Hudu (Kogi State Government House Cashier) described as being ‘at large’ too, Ali Bello and Dauda Suleiman.”
The Commissioner said that the alleged offence “on or about September 2015 in Abuja” did not add up given that the former governor had not yet taken the oath of office and could not have converted the purported amount from the Government House. According to Fanwo, before becoming Kogi State governor, Bello had no financial relationships with the government that would have allowed him to transfer funds owned by the Kogi State Government.
He said: “In the EFCC’s desperation to nail H.E Yahaya Bello, they forgot their thinking hammer at home. The count of the offence is most laughable as the election that produced H.E Yahaya Bello, as Governor of Kogi was only conducted in November 2015. Indeed, H.E. Captain Idris Wada of the PDP held sway as Governor of Kogi State at the material time until he handed over to H.E Yahaya Bello on January 27, 2016. H.E Yahaya Bello could therefore not have as of September 2015 conspired with anyone, including Abdulsalami Hudu, a Kogi Government House cashier, to convert any money belonging to the Kogi State Government.
“It is to be noted that H.E Yahaya Bello before becoming the Governor of Kogi State had no financial dealings with the Kogi State Government which could have permitted him to convert monies belonging to the Kogi State Government, hence, one’s dismay at the allegation. The state government warned political actors to steer clear of Kogi State affairs and desist from their campaign of calumny “as the state government has not said its money is missing, and has been adjudged, both locally and internationally, as top in the area of transparency and accountability.”
The state government then asked: “Why should Nigerians trust the leadership of the agency that made such a ridiculous, shameless and indefensible allegation? The Chairman of the Commission should tender unreserved apologies to the Nigerian people for making us a laughing stock in the comity of nations.”
This is not the first time that such questionable accusations have been hauled against the ex-governor. At a time, the EFCC in a sensational “expose” accused Bello of keeping over N20 billion intervention fund with a commercial bank with the hope of making profit for his pocket.
In 2021, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in a desperate bid to embarrass the Government of Kogi State then under the leadership of Bello came out with a false claim that it had uncovered over N20 billion of the state’s bailout fund in a Fixed Deposit Account in Sterling Bank. Emboldened by its innocence, the Kogi State Government wrote a letter to Sterling Bank for clarifications.
The Bank came out clean that the State Government had no such account with it, rubbishing the blatant falsehood of the EFCC in a manner that was so embarrassing to the people and Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
But rather than apologise to the Government of Kogi State and the general public, the EFCC chose to harass the officials of Sterling Bank, coercing them to do everything possible to achieve the aim of roping the Kogi State Government into their ignominy ring. It ended with a conspiratorial exchange between the EFCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The current leadership of the EFCC has now continued to tow the path of the leadership of Bawa, who woke up one day in August 2021, decided in his mind that the Kogi State Government had N20 billion in an account, secured an ex-parte Order of the Federal High Court, Lagos empowering him to direct the Manager of Sterling Bank Plc to freeze Account No. 0073572696 with the name Kogi State Salary Bail Out Account pending the conclusion of investigation or possible prosecution.
They went on even when Sterling Bank through a letter addressed to the Kogi State Government dated September 1, 2021 confirmed that “the Kogi State Government does not currently operate or maintain a Fixed Deposit Account with Sterling Bank. There is no mandate letter from the Kogi State Government to open account number 0073572696 with Sterling’ and that ‘Sterling Bank account 0073572696’ is an internal (mirror) account operated by the Bank for purposes of managing the Kogi State salary bailout facility.”
The state government added: “While the EFCC’s suit was withdrawn and the Order of Court vacated upon a challenge by the Kogi State Government, the EFCC continued to issue press statements on all its social media platforms, attaching the pictures of Yahaya Bello to those statements and insisting that the factual basis of their claim was genuine. To cover up the falsehood and their shame, the EFCC under Bawa compelled Sterling Bank Plc and the CBN under its embattled Governor Emefiele, to write letters confirming the return of funds belonging to the Kogi State Government to the CBN, when no such funds existed. The EFCC has since refused to answer to the suit filed against it since 2021 by the Kogi State Government and its officials challenging the falsehood on the issue of bailout funds. The EFCC has continued to maintain frivolous appeals even when the Court of Appeal had confirmed that the trial Court had the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.”
Olukoyede should face his job of fighting corruption and depart from the path of ignominy of filing a case as if it was done by a carpenter. How can anyone accuse someone of diverting the state funds to the tune of N80 billion months before his election even took place? And this is someone that was not anything in the old government set up.
Prior to his election, Bello was nothing more than just being a citizen of Kogi State. So, when the amended charge is tabled before any judge now, even by closing his eyes, the case will be thrown out because it does not add up at all. By simple logic, there was a sitting governor at the material time, the person you are accusing of diverting N80 billion of state funds was not in any place near or around the government set up. He had not even contested election during the time he was quoted to have conspired with some people and that by that time, he was at large!
The EFCC should take the business of repairing its battered image more seriously. For years now, the case of the former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, has dragged on and till eternity, it is not clear whether it would have a tail or head at the end of the day. Thank God for the business-like working of the British legal system, the cases against the likes of James Ibori would still have been lingering in the Nigerian court today. Right from the onset, the EFCC can only confidently boast of just a few cases of corruption that it has pursued to a logical conclusion, and these are prima facie cases.
This brings to mind the likes of Obinwanne Okeke, aka Obi Invictus. Eighteen months after his arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the celebrated Nigerian entrepreneur and businessman was finally sentenced for a multi-million dollar fraud in the United States of America. The FBI did its homework. In fact, before he was arrested, every ingredient of a water tight corruption prosecution had been concluded to the point that in no time, the wire fraud expert pleaded guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence stacked up against him.
What of Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, aka Hushpuppi, a social media celebrity known for flaunting his opulent lifestyle to over two million Instagram followers with posts of him in luxury cars, private jets, and designer clothes, globe-trotting to fashion shows and dining with celebrities, soccer stars and Nigerian politicians? The FBI used Instagram and snapchat to track the conman living in the United Arab Emirates and by the time he was repatriated to the United States of America, he was crestfallen and had to plea bargain because of the water tight evidence against him.
This is what the EFCC chairman should emulate, not throwing away prima facie cases and filing charges that a pupil lawyer would close his eyes to thrash. This is when Nigerians can confidently say there is an anti graft body that actually works as its eagle logo indicates.
During the Ayo Salami probe of the EFCC under the leadership of Ibrahim Magu, one damning verdict passed against the anti-graft commission was that it does not have an operating manual. The report of the Ayo Salami panel capped it this way: “The EFCC does not have an approved regulation/scheme of service and an operating manual that guides the management and operations of the commission. The EFCC legal department is assessed by the commission as being dysfunctional, as the department is fragmented with no clear-cut leadership structure.”
This is instructive and Olukoyede is expected to look at this critically in steering the ship of the commission going forward.
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