The American International School of Abuja (AISA) has consented to return $760,910.80, which is believed to be part of a money laundering scheme involving Yahaya Bello, the former Governor of Kogi State.
It is alleged that Bello transferred a sum of $845,852.84 from the state government’s accounts to AISA as school fees for his five children. Four of these children were studying at the school in grades 2 to 8 at the time, while the fifth payment was for a prospective student.
Bello, who is currently under scrutiny by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), could face 19 charges of alleged money laundering amounting to N84bn if apprehended.
In a correspondence to the EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Commander, AISA acknowledged receipt of the $845,852.84 payment from the Bello family, which began on September 7, 2021.
After accounting for “educational services provided,” the school determined that $760,910.80 should be returned to the EFCC.
The letter read, “We have computed the net amount to be transferred and refunded to the state, after accounting for the educational services provided, as $760,910.84.”
The school’s administration requested the EFCC to supply official banking information to expedite the refund payment, which is linked to the alleged money laundering activities of the ex-governor, who was recently declared wanted by the EFCC.
An EFCC insider, who verified the letter’s authenticity, stated that Bello prepaid the fees “to cover the duration of his children’s education at the school.” However, it remains unclear whether the school can be implicated in the former governor’s alleged money laundering activities.
A petition filed by a civil society group, Kogi Conscience, accused Bello and the 21 Local Government chairmen who served during his tenure of misappropriating over N300bn allocated to the local governments via a joint account managed by the state government. The current Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, who served as the Auditor-General for Local Government under Bello’s administration, was also named as an alleged offender.
Despite the substantial allocations, the petitioners claimed there was “unprecedented mismanagement, deprivation, and underdevelopment” in the Local Government Areas under Bello, with civil servants going months without receiving full salaries. The alleged diversion of funds, according to the petitioners, led to “unprecedented suffering and hardship to our people with records of several deaths and stories of hunger, starvation, and withdrawal of wards from institutions of learning.”
