The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has dismissed former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello’s recent visit to its office as a stunt, claiming he was not genuinely prepared to surrender himself.
EFCC Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, made this assertion during an interview th newsmen.
Uwujaren noted that Bello had another chance to appear before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, where his ongoing money laundering case was adjourned to October 30, 2024, for a ruling.
“That is enough to convince Nigerians that his presence at the EFCC on the 18th of September was more of a stunt not really that he wanted to abide by the rule of law.
“When EFCC officials went to the Kogi Governor’s lodge to ask him to come back, he would have followed them if he had no issue presenting himself to the commission.
“If he had done that he would have complied with the decision of the court of Appeal which mandated him to formally present himself. That as I am concerned exposed his insincerity in appearing at the car park of the EFCC on the 18th of September,” he said.
He said when the information of Bello’s visit to the commission went viral, the former governor had not even arrived at the office.
Bello’s media office released a statement last Wednesday that he had honoured an invitation by the EFCC months after he was declared wanted by the commission.
Shortly, pictures of Bello and the current governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, at the car park of the EFCC started circulating on social media.
The EFCC, however, denied that Bello was in its custody in a statement by its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, adding that Bello remains wanted with a subsisting warrant of arrest.
