The Kogi State House of Assembly, during plenary on Tuesday, has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to remove the ‘wanted’ tag that it placed on Yahaya Bello, the immediate past governor of the state.
EFCC declared Bello alongside Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman and Abdulsalam Hudu on 19-count charges bordering on money laundering to the tune of N80, 246, 470,089.88
A member of the House representing Ajaokuta State Constituency in the House, Jibrin Abu, raised the motion.
The motion is titled “A call to end all false, frivolous, fictitious, and far from the truth smear campaign against the former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello,”
Abu, in the motion, alleged that EFCC has been witch-hunting Bello.
“Kogi State, by allocation standard, is not rich so much so that N80.4b will be missing that the State will not be shaken to its foundation,” Abu said.
He noted that EFCC claims levelled against Bello should “be sanctioned and taken as laughable.”
He added that “innocent Nigerians” and “Kogi State citizens” who bought into the lies should, by their personal volition, withdraw their support.
Former Deputy Speaker of the House, Enema Paul, urged the anti-graft agency to uphold the rule of law.
While the Speaker of the House, Aliyu Yusuf, admonished the EFCC not to violate the country’s laws.
Yusuf noted that the house is not against EFCC doing their job but they should do it within the ambit of the law and not in a Gestapo way.
“The country belongs to all of us, so we must respect the law and work with it,” he stated.
