A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Joseph Daudu, counsel to the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that Bello’s trial over the alleged ₦80.2bn fraud was political and unjustified.
Daudu made the submission on Wednesday during the ongoing money laundering trial instituted against Bello by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
His clarification followed remarks made in open court by EFCC counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, who had described the mode of payments by local government areas in Kogi State as “stealing in disguise.”
Daudu spoke as the seventh prosecution witness, Olomotane Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank Plc, admitted in court that the former governor did not serve as a local government chairman in any of the local governments in Kogi State.
The banker said the contracts in question were awarded by local government chairmen for various purposes to contractors, as reflected in the bank accounts of some companies tendered and admitted as exhibits by the court.
The EFCC witness, subpoenaed from Access Bank Plc, while being cross-examined by Daudu, SAN, also reiterated that there was no mention of the former governor’s name in any of the local government transactions under investigation.
He said the name “Yahaya Bello” did not appear either as sender or recipient of local government funds.
The witness further admitted that, on the face of Exhibit 33(11), the entries reflecting transactions between the local governments and Keyless Nature Limited were consistent with normal banking transactions.
The defendant’s counsel asked the witness, “You drew my lord’s attention to a litany of payments from the 21 local government areas, for example, on 11 October 2022, into the Keyless account. Do you know the purpose of those entries or transactions?”
“No, my lord,” the witness responded.
He also admitted that he did not know from the records whether there was any business or contractual relationship between the local governments and Keyless Nature Limited.
The witness noted that a customer has the right to spend funds as desired unless there is evidence of fraud.
Daudu, SAN, then asked, “Confirm that in respect of transactions in Exhibit 33(11), your bank was not acting under a court order and you have no report of fraud.”
“That is correct, my lord,” the witness replied.
On payments made to Fayzade Business Enterprise, the defendant’s counsel directed the witness to the transaction dated 6 May 2022.
The witness said the inflow came from Okene Local Government Area and that the stated purpose was the supply of reading materials.
He listed other purposes of payments from Ogorimagongo, Okehi, Omala, and Yagba local government areas as education materials (₦4.4 million), medical items (₦7.5 million), sporting equipment (₦10.8 million), and medical consumables (₦12.2 million), respectively.
According to the witness, other payments were for agrochemicals, farm inputs, and additional medical consumables.
Daudu, SAN, then asked, “Do you know if this defendant, Yahaya Bello, was a local government chairman, and if so, which local government in Kogi State?”
“No, the defendant was not a local government chairman,” the witness responded.
