A group under the aegis of the Northern Youth Progressives Assembly (NYPA) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to rein in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which has laid siege on the Abuja home of the immediate-past Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state over N84 billion fraud allegedly committed by the youthful governor while in office.
The group said the case smacks of political witch-hunt, insinuating that some powers within the All Progressives Congress (APC) hierarchy that are intimidated by the rising profile of the former governor are responsible for his current travails, noting the obvious contradictions in the alleged case.
It observed that the former number one citizen of Kogi state is being charged with the fraud allegedly committed in September 2015, whereas the accused became governor on January 16, 2016.
Again, in 2022, one Ali Bello and Dauda Suleiman who were neither in government nor appointees of the embattled former governor were charged with the same offence.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja, leader of the group, Mallam Aliyu Usman Mustapha, said they are not against the anti-graft agency doing its work but they must follow the rules of engagement.
“They should do their work in a fair, transparent, and lawful manner. They should not make the agency a tool in the hands of unscrupulous power-hungry politicians,” he said.
He said there is a subsisting court judgment restraining the EFCC from molesting, harassing, and arresting the accused pending the determination of the substantive suit he filed for his fundamental human rights.
He opined that the attempt to arrest Bello despite this extant court order is a slap on the judiciary and the rule of law.
Mallam Mustapha, therefore, called on President Tinubu to use his good offices to prevail on the nation’s foremost anti-graft agency to avoid abuse of power and miscarriage of justice. He noted that: “Yahaya Bello is an inspiration to the youth and an asset to the party. He has paid his dues and should not be rubbished or made a scapegoat. Bello stood for the party in trying times. During the CBN cash-swap brouhaha, it was Bello who stuck out his neck; stood on the side of the people and Asiwaju Tinubu and galvanised the other governors to fight the repressive, ill-conceived policy of the apex bank under Godwin Emefiele.”
