EFCC Chairman Vows To Prosecute Ex-Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello, Threatens Resignation

*Freezes Over 300 Accounts Over Suspicious Fx Flows
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The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has sworn to follow the prosecution of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, to a logical conclusion.

In a chat with journalists at the EFCC Headquarters in the Jabi area of Abuja on Tuesday, the anti-graft chairman vowed to resign as EFCC chairman if Bello is not prosecuted. He also vowed that all those who obstructed the arrest of the former governor would be brought to book.

The EFCC is seeking to arraign Bello on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust, and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.

He said that no matter what anyone does or the amount of attack against the anti-graft agency, he and his men will not relent in helping to sanitize the country.

Olukoyede said the EFCC needs the support of Nigerians to succeed, as he emphasized that if the agency fails, Nigeria fails. He stated that the efforts made currently have helped the value of the Naira and the foreign market.

He said the embattled former governor of Kogi ,Yahaya Bello, withdrew $720,000 from the government account to a Bureau de Change to pay for his child’s school fees in advance.

“I called Yahaya Bello, as a serving governor, to come to my office to clear himself. I shouldn’t have done that,” he said.

“But he said because a certain senator has 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 cover, but he said my men should come to his village to interrogate him.”

Olukoyede said the EFCC did not violate any law while trying to arrest the former governor from his residence.

“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?” he asked.

“I have arraigned two past governors who have been granted bail now — Willie Obiano and Abdulfatah Ahmed.”

The EFCC chair vowed that everyone involved in obstructing Bello’s arrest from his Abuja residence will face the full wrath of the law.

“We would have gone after him since January, but we waited for the court order,” Olukoyede said.

“As early as 7 am, my men were there. Over 50 of them. They mounted surveillance.

“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.”

He vowed that all those who have dipped their hands into the nation’s coffers would be investigated and prosecuted.

“If I can do Obiano, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and Chief Olu Agunloye, my kinsman, why not Yahaya Bello?” Olukoyede said.

He also said more than 71 percent of companies operating in Nigeria were victims of cybercrime in 2022, adding that the anti-graft agency’s fight against internet fraud is about saving the nation’s future.

Olukoyede disclosed that the commission has created a cybercrime research center where convicted internet fraudsters, known in local parlance as Yahoo Yahoo boys, will be trained to channel their knowledge to positive aspects of society.

The EFCC chair also said the agency is prosecuting two of its operatives for violating the agency’s code of conduct.

He said the commission has effected some reforms to enhance its fight against corruption, including the creation of a directorate of fraud risk assessment/control and ethics/integrity.

He said the agency has frozen about 300 accounts to ensure the safety of the foreign exchange market.

The scheme popularly called the “P to P” peer-to-peer financial trading scheme has operated outside the official banking and financial corridors, and there was a looming disaster that could further crash the Naira value that has continued to gain.

“There are people in this country doing worse than Binance,” he said, adding that over $15bn passed through one of the platforms in the last one year, outside the financial regulations.