According to public affairs analyst and human rights activist Austin Okai, the current EFCC probe into former governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has its roots in an incident that occurred in 2022, when N20 billion in bailout monies from Kogi State were discovered at Sterling Bank.
He said that the EFCC, headed by Bawa, returned the funds to the Central Bank of Nigeria despite denials from the state government. Yahaya Bello's assets were seized by the EFCC, led by Bawa, during a legal process that began in February 2022 and ended on February 2, 2023. The federal government of Nigeria was ordered to receive these assets, which were situated in locations such as Dubai and Maitama. He brought up the fact that the former governor was informed of the difficulties by the new EFCC Chairman, who had taken over the matter and studied its details.
He said in an interview with Arise TV, ''I think some people don't know Yahaya Bello, he's one of the sophisticated governors that you can't just approach. We are all aware of this case. This case started in 2022 when N20Bn of Kogi State bailout fund was found in Sterling bank. The state government denied that money, and the EFCC under Bawa refunded that money back to the CBN.
After that, there was a case that started from February 2022 to the 2nd of February 2023. The same EFCC under Bawa got a court order where so many of his assets including in Dubai, Maitama and so many places were asked to forfeit it to the federal government.t of Nigeria by the EFCC order. As the EFCC Chairman has said, he inherited the case and he called the d on the file. And he told the governor that there was a problem. The court order that the former governor obtained is about his fundamental human right and I'm not aware of any court order that can stop EFCC from investigating a criminal offense.''
Please watch the video below and fast forward to:10:38
https://youtu.be/ZxfViZvL1f0?si=EA8v07RCzucEALTz