The former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello is set to be arraigned today, July 27, at the Federal High Court in Abuja on alleged N82 billion fraud charges.
Bello is expected to be put on trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on behalf of the federal government.
The arraignment is number 7 on the cause list of Justice Emeka Nwite.
However, it could not be ascertained if the former governor would honor his promise to make himself available for arraignment.
At the time of this report, lawyers from the EFCC and Bello’s legal teams have arrived in court without any trace of the defendant.
It will be recalled that the former governor had, on four occasions, refused to appear in court, citing various reasons, such as bias against him by the anti-graft agency.
Today’s arraignment is expected to be handled by Kemi Pinheiro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), for the EFCC, while the defense team will be led by Adeola Adedipe, another SAN.
The charge, entitled “Federal Republic of Nigeria Versus Yahaya Bello,” is marked HC/ABJ/CR/98/2024.