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Some details have emerged on how the embattled former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, evaded arrest by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at the State Governor's Lodge on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
Bello slipped away from the grasp of the anti-graft agency again after a similar attempt to arrest him in April was thwarted by his successor in office, Governor Usman Ododo.
The erstwhile Governor is wanted by the EFCC for having allegedly laundered ₦80.2 billion and operatives laid siege to the Kogi Government Lodge in the Asokoro District in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) late Wednesday to apprehend him.
This came hours after Bello, accompanied by his legal counsel and Ododo, voluntarily visited the EFCC office as claimed by his media team.
Despite the claim, the commission, in a statement by its spokesman Dele Oyewale, denied detaining the former Governor.
But a melee ensued later in the day when operatives arrived at the lodge to effect Bello's arrest. The sound of gunshots rented the air as security personnel attached to the facility pushed back against the anti-graft agency.
Sources who spoke to Punch confirmed that Ododo leveraged the immunity he enjoys as a serving Governor to prevent his predecessor from being arrested, repeating a similar action in April during a raid on Bello's residence in Abuja.
EFCC officials said though Ododo's action thwarted the operation, operatives were handicapped from taking further action due to his governorship immunity.
“Yahaya Bello has not been arrested. The Kogi State governor prevented operatives from doing their work yesterday just like he did the other time. He took him away and our men could not do anything because of the immunity he (Ododo) is enjoying,” an official was quoted as saying.
As of the time of filing this report, the EFCC has yet to give any official account on how Bello was able to escape the arrest.