 in the ongoing trial of former Kogi State Gover){kind=link}
A fourth prosecution witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the ongoing trial of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has again confirmed that the state’s fund withdrawals did not violate any banking regulation.
The witness, Mshelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, stated this while being cross-examined before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday.
Bata maintained that the name of the former governor did not appear as a beneficiary in the account presented as evidence.
During the session, defence counsel Joseph Daudu (SAN) drew the witness’s attention to certain withdrawals made by one Umar Comfort Olufunke, which were not mentioned by the prosecution.
The prosecution had earlier focused on withdrawals by Abdulsalam Hudu.
According to Bata, the transactions, mostly in multiples of N10 million, were made between December 2017 and April 2018 to various hotels in Kogi State.
He also confirmed withdrawals by one Alhassan Omakoji between November 2021 and December 2022.
None of the withdrawals, he said, exceeded N10 million, in line with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) limits.
Bata admitted he was unaware of any law regulating how the Kogi State Government spends its funds or allocations.
He added that apart from the listed beneficiaries, he could not tell what the payments were meant for.
The prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), said he had no re-examination for the witness and asked that he be discharged.
At a previous sitting, Bata had told the court that Bello was neither a signatory to nor connected with any of the accounts tendered as evidence.
He also said Bello’s name did not appear in Exhibit 22A, covering pages 24 to 413.
The EFCC then called its fifth witness, Jesutoni Akoni, a compliance officer with Ecobank Plc.
Akoni tendered a summon letter sent to Ecobank and a statement of account belonging to Moses Ailetu Companies, which were admitted as exhibits.
He confirmed that cash deposits ranging from N3 million to N20 million, totalling N57 million, were made into the account.
During cross-examination, Akoni confirmed that none of the deposits bore the name of the former governor.
“Confirm that any of the deposits you identified carries the name of Yahaya Bello,” Daudu SAN said.
“None of them carries the name, Yahaya Bello,” the fifth witness responded.
Akoni further told the court that it was not possible to identify the source of funds from the account documents.
The sixth prosecution witness, Mohammed Bello Hassan, a relationship officer with Keystone Bank, also testified.
He presented the statement of account of Dantata and Sawoe, which was admitted with a certificate of identification.
Another witness, Olomotame Egoro, a compliance officer with Access Bank, appeared on subpoena and confirmed he brought 12 sets of documents requested by the EFCC.
“We supplied sufficient customer details that were extracted from the account opening packages at the time the customer opened the account,” he said.
Defence counsel Daudu SAN, however, objected to the inclusion of extra documents attached to the statement of account, describing them as irrelevant.
“Based on our request, he brought other documents believing that we may be in need. We did not actually request for those documents,” Pinheiro SAN explained.
Justice Nwite later directed the prosecution to remove all extraneous documents and adjourned the case to November 11, 2025, for continuation of trial.