ABUJA – The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, disclosed on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, that a former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, transferred the sum of $720,000 to a bureau de change as advanced payment of his children’s school fees.
While addressing media executives at the Corporate Headquarters of the EFCC, Mr. Olukoyede expressed his concern over the report of larceny concerning the former governor. He said, “A sitting governor, because he knew he was going, he moved money directly from the government’s account to a bureau de change to pay his children’s school fees in advance, $720,000, in anticipation that he was going to leave government house.”
Mr. Olukoyede also commented on how Mr. Bello evaded arrest. Despite personal efforts to invite him to respond to investigations regarding his alleged involvement in money laundering to the tune of N80 billion, the former governor refused to honor the invitation.
According to Mr. Olukoyede, he had a telephone conversation with Mr. Bello offering him ample opportunities to present himself for interrogation by investigators of the EFCC. “On my honor, I put a call to him to honor him as a former governor. He said, ‘I can’t come,’ claiming that a certain lady has surrounded the EFCC with over 100 journalists to embarrass or intimidate him and all that stuff. I said if that is your fear, I will make you come directly to my floor. I will invite my operatives to interrogate you in my own office. What could be more honorable than that? Do you know what he said? ‘Can’t they come to my village?’ My Director of Investigations also sent a message to him,” he said.
In his bid to ensure the safety and stability of the foreign exchange market, Mr. Olukoyede disclosed that the EFCC has uncovered a new fraudulent scheme called P to P, peer to peer trading scheme. The platform, according to him, is operating outside the official banking and financial corridors, with more than 300 accounts linked to it already frozen by the EFCC.
He reaffirmed the commitment of the Commission to the economic growth and development of the country, promising that the EFCC would not relent in the exercise of its mandate. He told the media executives that the commission has recovered more than N120 billion from fraudsters within six months and secured more than 1300 convictions.
Mr. Olukoyede called on Nigerians to be more dedicated to the nation, insisting that patriotic Nigerians should offer more support to the EFCC because the Commission is crucial to the growth and development of Nigeria. “If you support the EFCC, you are working for the growth of Nigeria. We all have stakes in the wellbeing of our nation,” he said.