Some more revelations were made at the court on Thursday on how the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, consistently paid the school fees for his three daughters in U.S. dollars through one Jamilu Abdullahi, an operator of a Bureau de Change and his associated companies.
Testifying as a third witness in the case involving the former Governor, Abdullahi, who is based in Abuja, explained in detail to the Federal High Court in Abuja how transactions for Yahaya Bello’s daughters’ school fees were made through him.
OsunDailyNG reports that Abdullahi serves as the third witness for the prosecution in the trial of Ali Bello, the former governor’s nephew, along with co-defendants Abba Daudu, Yakubu Adabenege, and Iyada Sadat.
Recall that the defendants face 18 charges related to money laundering and misappropriation, amounting to over ₦3 billion.
A statement released on Thursday by Dele Oyewale, the Head of Media and Publicity for the EFCC, indicated that the witness revealed that on one occasion, Daudu, the second defendant, delivered $300,000 in cash to him for the purpose of covering the school fees of Yahaya Bello’s daughters.
The statement quoted the witness as saying, “Abba Daudu called me to say that they have a transaction though it was on the weekend, but I drove down to the office and waited for them to come. Upon their arrival, three of them came. One of them stayed in the car with the driver, two of them walked to my office, and a friend of Abba Daudu was holding a black leather bag containing $300,000.
“Upon entering, he greeted, and Abba Daudu introduced him as his friend and business partner, saying he had a transaction. He dropped $300,000 in cash. I wanted to count the dollars before they left, but I could not due to the power outage. I told him I could not use my hands and needed to confirm that it was $300,000, so I locked the dollars in my office safe, and two of them left.
“Then, Abba Daudu’s friend said when I confirmed the sum, details would be forwarded to me for payment. However, the sum of $300,000 attracts some service charges which he said I should calculate and let Abba Daudu know. “
He added, “After I completed the transfer, I forwarded four receipts indicating $75,000 four times to Abba Daudu, and he confirmed to me that the payment was confirmed successfully.”
Oyewale said when asked by the prosecution counsel if he knew anything regarding the transactions on Exhibit D, Pages 50, 52 and 53, he said: “Yes I know the transactions of $75,000, being paid to the school four times totalling, the sum of $300,000 as forwarded by Abba Daudu and further confirmed that the fees were paid for one of Yahaya Bello’s daughters.”
Oyewale said another payment of the fees, the witness recalled, was done by a company, Aleshua Solutions Services, which, he said, paid the sum of $42,170 for Naima Ohunene Bello on January 24, 20222.
On Page One of Exhibit D, he identified a transaction of $44,675 also for Naima Bello.
“I have seen it on the receipt of the payment. Forty-four thousand, seven hundred dollars, ($44,700) was paid to the school, but due to internal charges from the bank, 25 dollars was deducted, making the total balance of $44,675.00,” the witness was quoted as saying.
The beneficiary school, he told the court, was American International School.
