Court Adjourns Yahaya Bello’s N110.4bn Money Laundering Trial To November 12

Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court has adjourned the trial of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, over alleged N100bn money laundering has been adjourned to November 12, 2025.

Bello, alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of N110.4bn, brought against them by the Federal government.

At the last sitting, the third prosecution witness, Williams Abimbola, a compliance officer with UBA, had testified that no banking regulation was breached in the operation of the Kogi Government House account, insisting that all transactions followed established banking procedures.

At Thursday’s resumed proceedings, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) called its fifth and sixth witnesses, both bank officials, to give evidence in the ongoing case.

The fifth prosecution witness, Victoria Oluwafemi, a compliance officer with Polaris Bank, testified that the total credit into the account under scrutiny in November 2021 was N450m, made up of several transfers mostly in multiples of N10m.

Under cross-examination by Joseph Daudu, SAN, counsel to Bello, the witness admitted she was neither the account officer nor the relationship manager for the said accounts and therefore could not explain how the transactions were executed.

When questioned by A.M. Aliyu, counsel to the third defendant, Oluwafemi also confirmed that the name Abdulsalam Hudu did not appear in the relevant section of Exhibit M.

The sixth prosecution witness (PW6), Mshelia Arhyel B, was then called to the stand. However, Bello’s counsel, Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, objected to his appearance, noting that he was still cross-examining the same witness in a related case before another court.

Justice Anenih ruled that the case before her was distinct and allowed proceedings to continue, granting the defence counsel the discretion to cross-examine or not.

During the proceedings, the EFCC sought to tender a 218-page statement of account belonging to Alusha Services, which the defence opposed on grounds of non-compliance with Sections 83 and 84 of the Evidence Act.

Despite an objection from Bello’s counsel, the court admitted the document as Exhibit P1 en bloc.

The witness reviewed multiple transactions between 2016 and 2022, confirming several withdrawals of N10m each, all within the approved limit at the time. He also identified transfers from the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service totalling N202m in December 2016.

The prosecution further highlighted dollar transfers, including $2,500 and two separate $5,000 transactions linked to Aleshua Solutions Services, executed in 2022.

Justice Anenih adjourned the matter to November 12 and 13, 2025, for continuation of the examination of the sixth witness.