2023: Politicians ‘Hired EFCC To Discredit Yahaya Bello’

Some politicians with interest in the 2023 presidency hired the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to discredit Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, according to the State Commissioner for information, Kingsley Fanwo.

Gatekeepers News reports that EFCC, months ago, accused the Kogi state government under the administration of Bello, of running an account in Sterling Bank containing N20 billion bailout loan.

The anti-graft agency claimed that the N20 billion loan meant to augment the salary payment and running cost of the State Government was kept in an interest yielding account with Sterling bank and in August secured a court order to freeze the State salary bailout account.

Fanwo, while speaking with reporters on Sunday in Lagos, maintained that the EFCC is only chasing shadows, while it described the incident as a hatchet job conceived by politicians and executed by the anti-graft agency.

In his words: “This is the height of irresponsibility by an agency charged with the responsibility of fighting corruption in our country.

“Certain individuals with interest in 2023, have hired some agencies to discredit our governor before 2023. They attempted to use the NFIU, ICPC, Code of Conduct. They have finally settled for EFCC, which has all along acted as hired guns for these individuals to discredit and vilify Bello.

“We’ll not stop fighting until the EFCC apologise to Kogi and stop being used for political reasons. EFCC cannot be trusted with the responsibility of fighting corruption.

“The Kogi state government states categorically that it knows nothing about the money returned to CBN. The Kogi state government denies the account where the alleged fund was warehoused.

“This is a hatched job conceived by politicians and executed by the EFCC. The EFCC is chasing shadows and wants to tarnish the governor’s political image by portraying him as a corrupt governor.”

The commissioner gave the anti-graft agency an ultimatum of 48 hours to apologise to the Kogi Governor or face legal actions.