‘Yahaya Bello Not Hiding’ – Lawyer, Onokpasa Counters Presidency

Jesutega Onokpasa, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has publicly refuted recent claims made by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy.

Onanuga had alleged that Yahaya Bello, the former Governor of Kogi State, was evading arrest due to the protective efforts of his successor, Governor Usman Ododo.

During an interview on Channels Television’s Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, Onanuga expressed difficulties in arresting Bello, suggesting that the current governor was shielding him under his immunity.

This assertion comes in the wake of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) declaring Bello wanted for alleged financial crimes amounting to N80.2 billion, related to his tenure from May 2015 to May 2023.

Contradicting these claims, Onokpasa, who is also a lawyer, argued that Bello is not hiding and has actively engaged in legal processes.

He cited an instance where Bello presented himself at the EFCC headquarters but was instructed to leave, suggesting a lack of immediate grounds for detention.

In a statement released in Abuja on Monday, Onokpasa wrote, “I just read a report which credits my dear brother and presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, with stating in an interview with Laolu Akande that the former Governor of Kogi State, Governor Yahaya Bello, is hiding “under the agbada” of his successor, Governor Usman Ododo.

“From the report, it appears, Akande had asked Onanuga why the police cannot assist the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to effect Yahaya Bello’s arrest, which then elicited Onanuga’s quite ridiculous reply.

“Both Onanuga and Akande are seasoned and quite accomplished journalists but apparently neither is a lawyer, hence their advertisement of their crass ignorance of law and the judicial process.

“First of all, a person in court cannot be said to be hiding under anything unless one wants to insinuate that it is possible to hide under the law – Yahaya Bello is in court trying to enforce his fundamental human rights and therefore cannot be deemed to be hiding from the same law he is aiming to avail himself of.

“I can’t imagine what professional incompetence would have induced Akande to frame his query to Onanuga in the manner he is reported to have done but it is most dishonest and disingenuous of him to pretend that he does not know that the same Yahaya Bello had gone to the headquarters of the EFCC, was told to go home, only for the same EFCC to come to a location where he was, at dead of night, and request him to stage a fake arrest for their twisted purposes.

“Contrary to the rather perplexing insinuations of Onanuga, former Governor Yahaya Bello is most certainly not hiding under “the agbada” of anybody but is firmly under the protection of the law, being a litigant in a pending case in court.

“That is quite apart from the fact that the EFCC has clearly decomposed into a political thug for hire to politicians who have scores to settle with their political opponents under the guise of fighting corruption, when the EFCC, itself, is probably the most corrupt agency in the entire country.

“I don’t know why instead of interrogating how come the EFCC would not interrogate someone they had declared wanted, who then showed up at their headquarters and they asked him to go home wasn’t Akande’s priority but instead he chose to tilt his intervention towards trying to gaslight his audience to buy into nonsense that the same person is howsoever running from the law.

“I can’t imagine why Bayo Onanuga is so obsessed with Yahaya Bello that instead of leaving his matter for the courts to decide, he keeps tactlessly intervening thereonto with the impression that our President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is actually the one behind former Governor Bello’s travails.

“Yahaya Bello had hitherto expressed concern for the genuineness of the case against him and had privately voiced deep suspicion that it was just a ruse to harm him.

“Given the show of shame on the part of the EFCC when he lawfully presented himself at their headquarters and what transpired afterwards, he is perfectly entitled to wait for the judgement of the apex court before taking any other decision.

“We are a country of laws – Governor Yahaya Bello is in court and therefore before the law, unlike the likes of Bayo Onanuga, Laolu Akande and their cohorts who obviously aim to oust the jurisdiction of the courts and resort to self-help in the court of public opinion.”