He once ruled Kogi with the swagger of a man who feared nothing. Today, Yahaya Bello spends most of his mornings in courtrooms, surrounded by files thicker than suspiciously heavy state budgets, as prosecutors unpack a story of cash, secrecy, and political bravado turned brittle.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is still trying him on 19 counts of money laundering amounting to N80.2 billion. The case, before Justice Emeka Nwite in Abuja, reads like a diary of transactions: N10 million here, N50 million there, withdrawals stacked like dominoes across months and local governments. The figures feel surreal,
Witnesses describe the same rhythm—money entering state accounts and vanishing within hours. Access Bank’s compliance officer listed the days when N300 million arrived and disappeared almost instantly. Funds meant for 13 local governments, he said, flowed into private hands through cheques and shadowy names.
For Bello, the courtroom is now the stage that replaced the campaign ground. The man who once denied the existence of COVID-19, calling it “glorified malaria,” now faces a contagion of his own making: an avalanche of allegations too large to swat away. Even his dramatic escape from arrest in 2024 (shielded, reports say, by his successor’s convoy) feels part of an old script that has lost its audience.
Once, Bello embodied youthful power in Nigerian politics: confident, defiant, and impatient with rules. Now, each hearing peels away another layer of that image. His supporters insist the trial is political; his critics see it as justice delayed but unfolding.
The court has adjourned proceedings until early 2026. Outside, the air thickens with speculation, fatigue, and irony. Bello once told his followers that history would be kind to him. It might, as some commentators have shared, if history ever stops laughing long enough to write.
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