The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has detailed an account of how the former Governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, purportedly transferred $720,000 from the state government’s account to a Bureau de Change (BDC), utilizing a portion of the funds to pay his child’s school fees in advance.
In his address to the press, the EFCC Chairman refuted claims of being manipulated by anyone, as alleged by the former Governor. Olukoyede disclosed that he inherited the case upon assuming office and extended respect to Yahaya Bello by summoning him for questioning.
According to Olukoyede, Bello offered numerous excuses to evade questioning, including requests for the interrogation to be conducted in his hometown.
“I called Yahaya Bello, as a serving governor, to come to my office to clear himself. I shouldn’t have done that. But he said because a certain senator had planted over 100 journalists in my office, he would not come.
“I told him that he would be allowed to use my private gate to give him a cover, but he said my men should come to his village to interrogate him. Rather, we have obeyed the law. I inherited the case and I didn’t create it. Why has he not submitted himself to the law?
“We met over 30 armed policemen there. We would have exchanged fire and there would have been casualties. My men were about to move in when the governor of Kogi drove in and they later changed the narrative.
