Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has said he would step down if embattled former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello is not prosecuted.
He disclosed this to editors on Tuesday in Jabi, Abuja, adding that all those who obstructed the arrest of Bello would be brought to justice.
Olukoyede further declared: “If I do not personally oversee the completion of the investigation regarding Yahaya Bello, I will tender my resignation as the chairman of the EFCC.
“I have arraigned two past governors who have been granted bail now – Willie Obiano and Abdulfatah Ahmed. We would have gone after Bello since January but we waited for the court order.
“If I can do Obiano, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Chief Olu Agunloye, my kinsman, why not Yahaya Bello?”
Olukoyede accused Bello of transferring $720,000 from the government’s coffers to a bureau de change before leaving office to pay in advance for his child’s school fee.
“A sitting governor, because he knows he is going, moved money directly from government to bureau de change, used it to pay the child’s school fee in advance, $720,000 in advance, in anticipation that he was going to leave the Government House.
“In a poor state like Kogi, and you want me to close my eyes to that under the guise of ‘I’m being used. Being used by who at this stage of my life?” the EFCC chairman said.
Olukoyede said he called Bello directly, urging him to appear before the commission and address the charges against him, adding that the former governor failed to show up.
But Bello said he was not invited, daring the anti-graft agency to produce a copy of the invitation letter, adding that the commission was spreading lies.
