The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede has disclosed that the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello declined all invitations extended to him, instead, he told the anti-graft agency to meet him in his village.
Olukoyede also noted that he made personal attempts to get Yahaya Bello to respond to investigations regarding his alleged involvement in money laundering to the tune of N80,246,470,089.88 (Eighty Billion, Two Hundred and Forty-Six Million, Four Hundred and Seventy Thousand and Eighty-Nine Naira, Eighty Eight Kobo).
Olukoyede stated this about the investigation of Yahaya Bello in Abuja on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, while addressing media executives at the headquarters of the EFCC.
According to him, he had a telephone conversation with Yahaya Bello offering him ample opportunities to present himself for interrogation by investigators of the EFCC.
“On my honour, I put a call to him to honour him as a former governor. He said, I can’t come, claiming that a certain lady has surrounded the EFCC with over 100 journalists to embarrass or intimidate him and all that stuff. I said if that is your fear, I will make you come directly to my floor. I will invite my operatives to interrogate you in my own office. What could be more honourable than that? Do you know what he said? ‘Can’t they come to my village?’ My Director of Investigations also sent a message to him”, he said.
The EFCC’s boss said he was worried at the report of larceny available to the EFCC concerning the former governor. “A sitting governor (Yahaya Bello), because he knew he was going, he moved money directly from the government’s account to a bureau de change to pay his children’s school fees in advance, $720,000 in anticipation that he was going to leave government house”, he said.
Olukoyede also disclosed that the EFCC, in its bid to ensure the safety and stability of the foreign exchange market, has uncovered a new fraudulent scheme called P to P, peer to peer trading scheme. The platform, according to him, is operating outside the official banking and financial corridors, with more than 300( three hundred) accounts linked to it already frozen by the EFCC. He reaffirmed the commitment of the Commission to the economic growth and development of the country, promising that the EFCC would not relent in the exercise of its mandate.
He told the media executives that the anti-graft has recovered more than N120 billion from fraudsters within six months and secured more than 1300 convictions.
He called on Nigerians to be more dedicated to the nation, insisting that patriotic Nigerians should offer more support to the EFCC because the Commission is crucial to the growth and development of Nigeria. ‘’ If you support the EFCC, you are working for the growth of Nigeria. We all have stakes in the well-being of our nation,” he said.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
