May 10th Set for Court Decision on Yahaya Bello Request to Vacate Arrest Warrant

The ruling on the application filed by former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, to vacate an arrest warrant has been scheduled for May 10 by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Bello’s lead counsel, Abdulwahab Mohammed, argued that the arrest warrant was unnecessary as he had accepted the service of the criminal charges on behalf of his client related to an alleged N80 billion money laundering charge.

Despite Bello’s absence in court to enter a plea, his counsel, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, presented the application requesting Justice Emeka Nwite to revoke the earlier order for his client’s arrest.

Adedipe contended that the arrest warrant violated Yahaya Bello’s right to fair hearing and questioned the constitutionality of the EFCC, claiming that its establishment was not ratified by all 36 states of the Federation.

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Adedipe further argued that for the EFCC to be considered a constitutional body, the law establishing it must be ratified by all states, unlike the current situation where it was unilaterally ratified by the Federal Government.

He urged the judge to lift the arrest warrant against Bello based on the grounds he presented in court, a request that was met with strong opposition from the EFCC.

The EFCC, through its lead counsel Kemi Pinhero, SAN, opposed the application, labeling it as strange, baseless, and premature.

Pinhero insisted that the arrest warrant could only be revoked once Yahaya Bello physically appeared in court to face the charges against him.

Despite the acceptance of the charges through his lawyer, the EFCC maintained that the arrest warrant would remain in effect until Bello appeared in court voluntarily or was brought in by force.