A female police officer, serving as the aide-de-camp (ADC) to the embattled former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has been detained by the Nigeria Police Force.
Alongside other police officers assigned to 48-year-old Bello, she is being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Their arrest and detention follow an order by the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, directing their immediate withdrawal from the former governor. The officers were arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting Bello’s escape from operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who had gone to effect his arrest at his Abuja home on Wednesday.
Senior police sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the ADC and the other police details attached to Bello were arrested for allegedly assisting the former governor in evading the EFCC on Wednesday.
The IG had ordered the withdrawal of all police officers attached to Bello, as contained in a police wireless message sighted by our correspondent on Friday morning. The document directed the withdrawal of all police officers attached to Bello, who is being prosecuted before the Federal High Court Abuja for conspiracy, breach of trust, and money laundering.
In a related development, the Federal Government placed Bello on a watch list on Thursday night. The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service revealed that Bello was placed on a watchlist for conspiracy, breach of trust, and money laundering. The EFCC had earlier declared Bello wanted for laundering the sum of N80,246,470,089.88.
Bello had failed to appear before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja following his arraignment by the EFCC. The embattled former governor was arraigned in absentia before Justice Emeka Nwite alongside three other suspects on 19-count charges bordering on money laundering.
The incumbent Governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, had on Wednesday helped Bello escape arrest by operatives of the EFCC. The EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, confirmed that the commission’s attempt to execute a warrant of arrest lawfully obtained against Bello was met with resistance. The security cordon around Bello’s residence in Abuja was breached by the current Governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, who ensured that the suspect was spirited away in his official vehicle.
The EFCC exercised restraint in the face of the provocation, waiting for his arraignment on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The commission further noted that Bello is not above the law and would be brought to justice as soon as possible.
