The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has taken the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, into custody over an allegation of mismanagement of funds while he was in charge of the state’s affairs.

Yahaya Bello, who served as governor of Kogi State from 2016 to 2023, was arrested and taken into the anti-graft agency’s custody on Tuesday with his lawyer to respond to the EFCC’s pending invitation on charges of alleged money laundering, breach of trust, and misappropriation of N80.2 billion.

Confirming the development, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale said the commission arrested the former governor in the afternoon and was being interrogated by the commission.

“He was arrested today around 12: 54 PM together with three of his lawyers, he is having a session with our investigators, and he is in our custody… I am telling you that we arrested him”, he said.

The back and forth between the EFCC and Yahaya Bello began earlier this year when the commission named the former governor as one of the defendants in its ongoing investigation of some public funds, but the former governor refuted the EFCC’s claim that no amount of money went missing under his administration.

He added that the commission was only witch-hunting him for political reasons, thereby ignoring the invitation forwarded to him. He approached a state high court, which granted him an injunction barring the EFCC from arresting detaining and prosecuting him and members of the family.

In April, operatives of the EFCC attempted to arrest the former Kogi state governor by barricading his residence in Wuse, Abuja. However, the arrest was not possible due to the intervention of the current governor of the state, Ahmed Ododo, who disbanded the barricades with his security details and drove his predecessor out of the site.

As a result of failed attempts to arrest him, the antigraft agency declared Yahaya Bello wanted. In the statement to corroborate the development, the EFCC said he was “in connection with the alleged case of money laundering to the tune of N80,246,470,089.88 (Eighty Billion, Two Hundred and Forty-Six Million, Four Hundred and Seventy Thousand and Eighty-Nine Naira, Eighty-Eight Kobo).”

Reacting to the development, EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede said Yahaya Bello withdrew $720,000 from the state’s coffers to pay his child’s school fee in advance. He went on to say that the former Kogi state governor also transferred funds from the state coffers to a bureau de change operator and used them to pay for his child’s school fees ahead of time.

In August, the EFCC approached the court of appeals to overturn the decision of the lower court, barring the agency from arresting Yahaya Bello, a request that was granted. The appellate court ordered Mr Bello to appear for his arraignment.

Following the ruling, Yahaya Bello went to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja on September 18, 2024, accompanied by his successor, Governor Ododo, to turn himself in. However, the commission did not arrest him there; instead, they attempted to do so at the Kogi State Government Lodge in Abuja, but the attempt was unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, in late September, the commission filed an added charge of corruption and diversion of public funds against him. With the current developments, Mr Bello may be detained by the EFCC to face his pending trials.