Witness reveals ₦117m withdrawn from 13 Kogi LGs in Yahaya Bello’s ₦80bn trial

The trial of Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi State, continued on Tuesday before Emeka Nwite, Justice of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja, with fresh revelations from a prosecution witness detailing large cash withdrawals and deposits allegedly linked to Kogi State Local Government statutory accounts.

Bello, who governed Kogi between 2016 and 2024, is facing 19 counts of money laundering involving ₦80.2 billion filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

During Tuesday’s hearing, the seventh prosecution witness, Olomotane Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank, testified that several huge cash movements took place through accounts associated with the Kogi State Government House and local government councils.

Led in prosecution, Kemi Pinheiro,EFCC counsel, Egoro identified documents earlier tendered and admitted by the court, including the Kogi State Government House Account Administrative Opening Package and Statement of Account covering January 1, 2016, to January 31, 2024.

According to the witness, the records revealed suspicious patterns of large cash withdrawals and deposits, many made on the same day or within short intervals.

“My Lord, there was a cash withdrawal of ₦10 million in favour of one Aminu Jimoh Olarenwaju,” Egoro said, adding that the same beneficiary received two more lodgements of ₦10 million each on December 21, 2018.

He said further scrutiny showed that on December 24, 2018, five separate cash payments of ₦10 million each, totalling ₦50 million were made to the same individual.

The pattern continued into 2019, with ten cash withdrawals of ₦10 million each, amounting to ₦100 million on March 8, 2019, in favour of the same person.

Egoro also disclosed that on August 1, 2019, another series of 30 withdrawals of ₦10 million each, totalling ₦300 million, were made to one Abdulsalami Hudu.

He said the account had earlier received ₦300 million on July 31, 2019, just a day before the entire amount was withdrawn.

“The inflow of ₦300 million and its full withdrawal in cash the next day appeared suspicious,” he told the court.

The EFCC also presented Exhibit 33(8), the statement of account of Faza Business Enterprise, covering January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022, which the witness confirmed was domiciled at Access Bank.

Read also: ₦80.2bn fraud: Witnesses reveal cash withdrawals in Yahaya Bello’s trial

Egoro testified that on May 6, 2022, the account, previously holding just ₦75,728, received multiple inflows totalling over ₦103.3 million from the statutory and VAT accounts of 11 Kogi local government councils, including Omala, Yagba West, Idah, Okene, Ijumu, Olamaboro, Ofu, Okehi, and Ogori-Magongo.

Three days later, on May 9, 2022, additional transfers of ₦7.44 million and ₦7.12 million were received from Ibaji and Dekina local councils, respectively, bringing the total to about ₦117 million from 13 councils.

Egoro told the court that the funds were subsequently withdrawn in cash by Yakubu Adebenege Siyaka through cheque transactions conducted between May 9 and May 26, 2022, leaving a closing balance of only about ₦1.4 million.

After hearing the detailed testimony, Justice Nwite adjourned the case to January 29–30, 2026, and February 4–5, 2026, for the continuation of trial.