Yahaya Bello, who is the first defendant in the fraud case, is appearing before the court for the first time
By Kehinde Okeowo
The former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and two others have pleaded not guilty to the 16-count criminal charges brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
This was after the charges were read to the defendants before the trial judge, Justice Maryann Anenih.
The offences, the EFCC had argued, were contrary to Section 311 of Penal Code Law Cap 89 Laws of Northern Nigeria, 1963 and Punishable under Section 312 of the same Law.
Reacting, the trio denied all the allegations in the charges, including the fraudulent conversion of N110 billion naira for personal use.
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Yahaya Bello, who is the first defendant in the charges, vehemently denied the allegations as they were read out by the Court Registrar.
Prior to the development, Bello’s co-defendants, Umar Shoaib Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu had been admitted to administrative bail by the EFCC but the former governor is appearing before the court for the first time.
At the time of this report, the battle for bail was about to commence.