The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Olanipekun Olukoyede, has revealed how the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, moved $720,000 to pay his child’s school fees in advance.
He said this during a press briefing while revealing that he accorded Bello some respect by calling him directly for an interrogation but declined.
Speaking further, Olukoyede stressed the need for the continuous existence of the Commission, as it has recovered close to N120 billion in the last six months.
“I’m so passionate about us moving forward in this country. A sitting governor, because he knows he’s going, removed money from the state government treasury. Yahaha Bello moved money to Bureau de Change and used it to pay his child’s school fees in advance in dollars.
“We’re talking about $720,000 being paid in advance in a poor state like Kogi, and you want me to close my eyes. I assumed office here and didn’t initiate the case; I inherited the case file and called for the case file and discovered there were issues in the report. On my own, I put a call across, which ordinarily I wasn’t supposed to do, just to honour the immediate past governor.
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“I told him, sir, there are issues, can you just come and let’s clarify these issues? He said, I know, but I can’t come because a lady has surrounded my house with hundreds of journalists to embarrass me here. I replied to him, If that’s your fear, I’m going to pass you through my special man gate and come to my floor.
“I’ll accord you that respect. What could be more honorable than that? But he replied, Can those interrogators come to my village? We need this institution to survive,” he said.
