The trial of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, continued on Monday before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, with the fourth prosecution witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mshelia Arhyel Bata, maintaining that the state government did not breach any banking regulation in its fund withdrawals.
Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, told the court under cross examination that the former governor’s name did not appear as a beneficiary in the account presented by the prosecution.
He added that he was unaware of any law regulating how the state government spends its allocation.
The defence counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), had drawn the witness’s attention to several withdrawals made by one Umar Comfort Olufunke, which the prosecution had earlier ignored while focusing on transactions linked to Abdulsalam Hudu.
According to Bata, the withdrawals, in tranches of ₦10 million each, were made between December 2017 and April 2018, with payments going to various hotels across Kogi State.
He also confirmed other withdrawals made by one Alhassan Omakoji between November 2021 and December 2022, all within limits set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He said the bank could only identify the recipients, not the purpose of the transactions. The EFCC counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), declined to re examine the witness and applied for him to be discharged.
At an earlier sitting, Bata had confirmed that Yahaya Bello was neither a signatory to nor a beneficiary of any of the accounts tendered as evidence, noting that his name did not appear in any of the documents between pages 24 and 413 of Exhibit 22A.
After Bata’s testimony, the EFCC called its fifth witness, Jesutoni Akoni, a compliance officer with Ecobank Plc. Led in evidence by Chukwudi Enebeli (SAN), Akoni tendered a subpoena letter and a statement of account belonging to Moses Ailetu companies, which were admitted as exhibits.
He confirmed that the accounts recorded several cash deposits ranging from ₦3 million to ₦20 million, amounting to ₦57 million in total.
On cross examination, Akoni stated: “None of them carries the name, Yahaya Bello,” in response to Daudu’s question on whether the former governor’s name appeared on the deposits.
He further admitted that the source of the funds could not be determined from the documents alone.
The EFCC later introduced its sixth witness, Mohammed Bello Hassan, a relationship officer with Keystone Bank, who produced statements of account for Dantata and Sawoe, which were admitted without objection.
A seventh witness, Olomotame Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank, also appeared on subpoena.
He confirmed submitting 12 sets of account documents requested by the EFCC.
While the defence raised no objection to the account statements, Daudu (SAN) objected to “all the 12 purported extractions” attached to the documents, prompting the prosecution to detach the materials deemed irrelevant.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter till Tuesday, November 11, 2025, for the continuation of trial.
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