Drama As Yahaya Bello Controls Crowd In Court, Pleads Not Guilty

By Adesina Soyooye

The arraignment of the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, at an Abuja Federal High Court on Wednesday, November 27, had all the trappings of the drama which, for months, followed his final surrender.

In Court, he was not only the accused, he was the “traffic controller”. What the scores of security personnel  who stacked out inside and outside the Court could not accomplish, he did.

Bello, after a cat and mouse game with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was finally arraigned before the Honourable Justice Maryam Anenih on about a 20-count charge bordering on corruption, fraud, money laundering and more.

He, allegedly, committed the offences during his two-term tenure as the Governor of Kogi State.

For months, Bello, had snubbed all invitations extended to him by the EFCC, as well as Court summons. He disappeared into thin air, to the embarrassment of the EFCC.

But on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, Bello drove himself to the EFCC Headquarters accompanied by his Lawyers. His appearance this time was different from that of weeks ago when he was accompanied by the Governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, in a convoy of SUVs. But to the shock of Nigerians, the EFCC authorities allowed the man they had declared wanted to leave without as much as talking to him, not to talk of arresting him.

They gave as reason that he breached protocol by coming in a convoy of SUVs with Governor Ododo in tow. Yet, that same day, in the night, they went to the Governor’s Lodge in Abuja in search of Bello. There was, allegedly, a shoot-out. They retreated.

But all that came to an end when Bello was arrested as he arrived the EFCC Headquarters on Thursday by the Commission’s Chief Security Officer. He was promptly taken into custody, kept overnight and arraigned in Court.

However, Drama accompanied the arraignment. Dressed in an immaculate white flowing babariga and beaming with smiles, he was continously hailed by his hundreds of supporters who took over the Court. The crowd was much, the noise too, that the Honourable Justice Anenih walked out of the Court. That was when Bello took over.

Like the Commander of his troops, he ordered his supporters to leave the Court. One by one, they quietly left. And to make sure none of them entered again, he took a chair and sat by the door. That restored calm, and thereafter, the Honourable Judge  re-entered the Court.

Expectedly, Bello pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him-worth a whopping N110 billion.