Yahaya-Bellos: The appeal filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against a Kogi High Court ruling prohibiting the anti-graft agency from detaining the governor-elect, Yahaya Bello, was not heard by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, on April 17, the Kogi court issued an order that barred the EFCC from taking Bello into custody and initiating legal action against him.
In a two-hour ruling handed out in suit no. HCL/68/M/2020 on Wednesday in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, the judge, I.A. Jamil, issued the order.
The ruling came just after EFCC agents “siege” Bello’s Abuja house in an attempt to apprehend him.
The former governor is to be charged on 19 charges by the EFCC, which centre on allegations of money laundering, breach of trust, and embezzlement of N80.2 billion in funds.
On the same day, the anti-graft agency went to the Federal High Court in Abuja to request an arrest warrant in an effort to force Bello to appear in court for his purported offense.
The EFCC filed an ex parte motion, which led to the warrant’s issuance.
Justice Emeka Nwite ordered the former governor to appear before him on Thursday, April 18, for arraignment, in addition to ruling on the motion.
He declared, “The following is thus ordered:
This honorable court hereby issues an order mandating the defendant’s immediate arrest in order to bring him before this honorable court for arraignment or to issue a warrant for his arrest.
UPDATED: EFCC declares ex-governor Yahaya Bello wanted
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