…Seizes defendants’ travel documents
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The immediate-past Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, was Tuesday, remanded in Kuje prison by a Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court sitting in Abuja.
His travel documents as well as those of other defendants were equally confiscated by the court.
Bello who is standing trial over alleged N110 billion financial fraud, is to remain in custody till February when the case was adjourned to.
Justice Maryann Anenih who presided over the trial, had dismissed an application by the former governor seeking bail, pending the determination of the case against him.
The court said the application was incompetent and premature.
According to the trial judge, the implication of Bello’s action is that he attempted to invoke the jurisdiction of the court too early.
The former Governor is answering to a 16-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
He was charged along with two officials of the Kogi State Government—Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu—who were cited as 2nd and 3rd defendants in the matter.
Recall that Bello has been in detention since November 25.
The court admitted the 2nd and 3rd defendants to bail in the sum of N300 million with two sureties in the like sum.
The EFCC, through its team of lawyers led by Mr Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, told the court that Bello, who is the 1st defendant in the case, repeatedly refused to make himself available for trial.
It told the court that several efforts to secure his presence before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, where he is facing another charge, proved abortive.
More so, the EFCC which challenged the competence of the bail application noted it was filed on November 22, about five days before the arraignment took place.
Consequently, it prayed the court to dismiss the bail application that Bello filed through his legal team led by a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN.
