Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi, has said that his refusal to appear before a federal high court in Abuja is due to fear of arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC is attempting to prosecute Bello on 19 counts of money laundering, breach of trust, and theft of funds totalling N80.2 billion.
Although the arraignment was originally planned for April 18, Bello did not appear in court that day.
At the resumed court session on Tuesday, Adeola Adedipe, a member of Bello’s legal team, stated that his client would have gone to court but was concerned about being taken into custody.
Adedipe said:
“The defendant wants to come to court but is afraid that there is an order of arrest hanging on his head.”
He urged the court to quash the former governor’s arrest warrant, issued on April 17.
Adedipe contended that the charge had not been served on his client as required by law at the time the arrest warrant was issued.
“As at the time the warrant was issued, the order for substituted service had not been made. That order was just made this morning.”
“A warrant of arrest should not be hanging on his neck when we leave this court,” counsel to the defendant added.
However, Kemi Pinheiro, EFCC’s counsel, claimed that for the arrest warrant to be annulled, the former governor must be arraigned and enter a plea.
Earlier, the sitting judge, Emeka Nwite, issued an order mandating that the defendant be served with the charges by substituted means through his counsel.
The court has set a May 10 hearing date for the application to vacate the arrest warrant.