The immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to release his international passport to enable him to travel abroad for medical treatment.
Bello, who is facing trial over alleged N80.2 billion money laundering charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), made the request before Justice Emeka Nwite during Friday’s proceedings.
His counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, told the court that his client urgently needs to attend to his health outside the country. He explained that under the terms of Bello’s bail, he is allowed to apply to the court for the temporary release of his travel documents when necessary.
“My Lord, he has medical needs to attend to during the period of the court’s vacation. After eight years of not travelling, he needs to take care of certain health matters,” Daudu said.
However, the EFCC’s counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, opposed the application, describing it as an abuse of court process. Pinheiro argued that the same request had already been filed before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and insisted that the application was technically incompetent.
Daudu, however, dismissed the claim, saying it was the prosecution that was guilty of abuse of court process. He revealed that the defence filed a further affidavit overnight to counter the EFCC’s position, including two exhibits to support their application.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Nwite adjourned the ruling on Bello’s application to July 21.
Meanwhile, the fourth prosecution witness, Mshelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, clarified during cross-examination that he was never harassed by security aides attached to the former governor, contrary to allegations raised by the EFCC.
“My Lord, I was not harassed by any of the defendant’s security details. I felt the need to clarify this in open court,” Bata stated.
The defence counsel also drew the court’s attention to a report on the EFCC’s website, which falsely claimed the witness had been harassed. He accused the anti-graft agency of misrepresenting the facts.
Pinheiro, representing the EFCC, assured the court he would take up the matter with the Commission.
During further cross-examination, the witness confirmed that Yahaya Bello’s name did not appear on any of the documents tendered by the prosecution as evidence. Bata admitted that Bello was neither a signatory to nor listed as a beneficiary of any of the transactions contained in the documents before the court.
The case was adjourned till July 3 and 4 for the continuation of trial.
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