Yahaya Bello: Court admits American int’l school’s account statement
The N80.2bn fraud trial of former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, continued on Monday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, with the prosecution calling two witnesses and tendering a number of documents.
Among the documents tendered and admitted as exhibits by the court were the statement of account of the Kogi State Government House; and the statement of account of American International School, Abuja, where Bello’s children are students.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had last year April claimed that its investigation revealed that shortly before the end of his tenure, Bello paid $760,000 as advanced school fees for his children at the American International School, Abuja.
The anti-graft agency also said the school refunded the money to it in the course of an investigation into alleged N80.2bn fraud against Bello.
The PUNCH reported that the American International School of Abuja had earlier asked the EFCC to provide “authentic banking details” for the refund of fees paid for the children of the former governor.
At the resumed trial of the former governor on Monday, the prosecution, led by Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), called the second prosecution witness, a compliance officer with United Bank for Africa Plc, Williams Abimbola, to testify under subpoena.
Pinheiro told the court that the subpoena was to produce four sets of documents to be tendered in evidence.
Subsequently, Abimbola submitted account opening packages and account statements of the Kogi State Government House from January 1, 2016, to January 31, 2024.
She also tendered the account opening package and account statement of American International School Abuja from September 1, 2020, to September 31, 2020.
The witness also tendered the statement of account of one Macelina Njoku from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.
The court admitted all the documents in evidence and marked them as exhibits as the defence did not object to their admissibility.
Earlier, led by Pinheiro, the first prosecution witness, the General Manager of Efab Properties Limited, Segun Adeleke was called upon for his testimony.
The defence, led by J.B. Daudu, however, objected to Adeleke testifying, contending that his statement was not frontloaded as part of Proof of Evidence.
However, the court allowed his testimony.
Adeleke testified regarding properties located at No. 1, Ikogosi Road, Maitama, and another in Gwarimpa.
Adeleke, in his testimony, told the court that Yahaya Bello’s name did not appear in the property’s documents.
He also told the court that he had no personal interaction with Bello during the transactions.
Adeleke recounted that in 2020, his Chairman, Chief Fabian Nwora, introduced him to Shehu Bello, who later made payments for a property valued at N550m.
He said, “Efab Properties Limited is into estate development of top big projects like housing location in Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse.
“My Lord, in 2020 while, I was in the office, my chairman sent to me and introduced me to a gentleman known as Chief Dr. Fabian Nwora. He also introduced me to a young man by the name of Shehu Bello. Apparently, they had a discussion concerning the purchase of the property and told me that he wanted to make payment for the property. Then we agreed on the price of N550m for the property located at No. 1 Ikogosi. When the young man came back later he came with U.S dollars, My Lord, at that point, we had to confirm the exchange rate from the Bureau De Change and the equivalent of N550m was paid.”
The witness added that he had contact with Shehu Bello three times.
“I saw him the first time during the introduction, the second time was when payment was made and then I saw him the third time when he brought a legal document for the execution of Efab Properties,” the witness told the court.
When asked about another property in Gwarinpa, Adeleke stated that it was purchased by Nuhu Mohammed for N70m and paid for through a bank transfer.
“This property is located by 59th Avenue in Gwarimpa in one of our estates. It was purchased by one Nuhu Mohammed for N70m.
“My Lord, it was a one-off purchase or one-off payment via bank transfer to our account. My office issued a two-page document after the purchase. One was the payment receipt; the second was a letter of allocation,” Adeleke said.
Still Under cross-examination, Adeleke confirmed that his actions were based solely on instructions from his chairman and that he did not personally discuss or finalise any transactions with Shehu Bello.
He further stated that he never saw Yahaya Bello during the transactions and that the former governor’s name did not appear on any of the related documents.
The court adjourned till March 6 and 7, 2025 for continuation of trial.
