The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman, Ola Olukoyede, claims that Yahaya Bello, the former governor of Kogi, took out $720,000 to cover his child’s upfront school fees.
Olukoyede made this known in Abuja on Tuesday during an interactive session with media executives.
The head of EFCC claimed that the former governor of Kogi transferred funds to a bureau de change operator and utilised them to pay his child’s school fees ahead of time.
Olukoyede added that Bello made the payment in anticipation that his tenure was gradually coming to an end.
“A sitting governor, because he knew he was leaving office, moved money directly from the government to bureau de change and used it to pay his child’s school fee in advance,” the EFCC boss said.
“Over $720,000 in anticipation that he was going to leave the government house. In a poor state like Kogi, you want me to close my eyes under the guise of ‘I’m being used’. Used by who? At this stage of my life.”
Olukoyede said he inherited the case file of the former Kogi governor, noting that he did not initiate the investigation against Bello.
On April 17, EFCC operatives laid siege on Bello’s residence in Abuja to arrest him over alleged N80 billion fraud.
While the EFCC operatives were at Bello’s residence, Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi, came to visit his predecessor.
Shortly after Ododo departed from the residence, the EFCC operatives also left the house.
Bello was reportedly rescued by Ododo when he departed his residence located in the Wuse Zone 4 district of Abuja.
Subsequently, the anti-graft agency declared the former governor wanted.
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has also placed Bello on a watchlist.
The anti-graft agency alleged that Bello, alongside Alli Bello, chief of staff to Ododo; and one Daudu Suleiman, diverted about N80.2 billion belonging to the Kogi government.
