Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has blocked the Abuja residence of Yahaya Bello, former Governor of Kogi state, in connection with an ongoing money laundering case.
Gatekeepers News reports that the anti-graft agency has restricted movement in and around the house located on Benghazi street, Wuse Zone 4.
The EFCC had recently named Bello in an amended 17-count charge filed against Alli Bello, chief of staff to Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi, and Daudu Suleiman.
The EFCC accused the suspects of diverting about N100 billion belonging to the Kogi government.
However, the Kogi government has denied the allegations and claimed that the former governor is “squeaky clean.”
In a statement, the Kogi commissioner for information and communications asked the EFCC to refrain from mentioning the former governor’s name in its ongoing persecution and highlighted that the amended charges are false, frivolous, fictitious, and far from the truth.
“As a subnational in the Nigerian nationhood, we wish to express our utmost respect for agencies set up to perform specific functions towards the greatness of Nigeria,” Fanwo said.
“The desperation of the EFCC to hastily and for glaring political reasons, hound the immediate past Governor on their corruption list is unfortunate and speaks volume on how we reward altruistic leadership in our nation.
“For the records, we wish to make it clear that Kogi’s funds are not missing and that the EFCC is trying so hard to find what is not missing.
“We therefore call on the EFCC to desist from mentioning the name of Kogi State in its ongoing persecution, orchestrated by some political actors in and around the Presidency bent on destroying the image of Alh. Yahaya Bello and Kogi State.
“The amended charges in which the name of the former Governor was mentioned are false, frivolous, fictitious and far from the truth. They are cooked-up charges that signpost their desperation to call a dog a bad name in order to hang it.”
