Alex Enumah in Abuja 

The trial of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on money laundering allegations has been adjourned till November 12, for continuation of trial.

Trial Judge, Justice Maryann Anenih, announced the adjournment on Thursday, after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) called its sixth witness to prove its case against the defendants, which include Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, both officials of the Kogi State Government.

The witness, just like three previous ones, is an official of another commercial bank in the country.

At Thursday’s proceedings, the prosecution, led by Kemi Pinhero (SAN), continued with the evidence of its fifth witness, Victoria Oluwafemi, a compliance officer with Polaris Bank.

The witness told the court the total credit to the account in question, which came from different senders, adding that the transfers from the account were in multiples of N10 million.

She said the total credit in November 2021 was N450 million. 

While being cross-examined by the counsel to Yahaya Bello (first defendant), Joseph Daudu (SAN), the witness admitted that she was not the accounts officer for the two accounts with her bank. 

She admitted also that because she was not the accounts officer or relationship manager, she did not know how the transactions on the accounts were carried out.

Counsel to the third defendant, A. M. Aliyu, while cross-examining the witness, said: “Look at the portion my learned brother showed you in Exhibit M, the name Abdulsalam Hudu did not feature there.”

“That is correct. Abdulsalam Hudu’s name did not feature,” she responded.

The sixth prosecution witness (PW6), Mshelia Arhyel B, was then called for evidence in chief.

The former governor’s lawyer however told the court that he had not concluded the cross-examination of the same witness in another court on a similar subject matter.

The court, however, held that the matter before it was independent and that the defence counsel held the discretion to cross-examine or not.

During the proceedings, the prosecution sought to tender certain documents through the subpoenaed witness, but Daudu objected to the admissibility of the documents, arguing that they did not comply with the provisions of Sections 83 and 84 of the Evidence Act. 

He further indicated his intention to address the court more extensively on the points of objection at a later stage.

Aliyu, also objected, relying on the same statutory grounds.

The prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), urged the court to discountenance the objections raised by the defence team and admit the documents in evidence.

The court admitted the document, a 218-page statement of account of Alusha Services, signed by the witness, Mshelia Arhyel and marked P1 en bloc.

The prosecution asked similar questions posed to the same witness at the June 26, 2025 examination before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court.

He reiterated that prior to 2023, there was no strict withdrawal limit as long as the amount written on the cheque did not exceed N10 million.

The EFCC counsel told the witness to examine the transactions of February 22, 23 and 25, as well as March 3, 2016, up to May 6, 2022.

He confirmed multiple transactions of N10 million each but admitted they were within the approval threshold, putting the total transactions as at January 31, 2018 at N707,267,000.

“Please confirm that, notwithstanding the multiple withdrawals made on the same day, they were all within the approved withdrawal threshold,” prosecution counsel said.

“Yes, my Lord,” the witness responded. 

On the account statement of Aleshua Solutions Services and transactions from May 6, 2022, the witness said the first entry was a transfer in favour of Aleshua Solutions Services by B.O. Rosemary Chukwuma, in the sum of $2,500.

“The second is a transfer in favour of Yau for $5,000. The third is also a cash transfer of $5,000 to Yau,” he stated.

The witness also confirmed certain transactions in December 2016 from the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service, totalling N202 million.

The judge indicated that the session must end at 3 pm and adjourned the case to November 12 and 13, 2025, for continuation of examination of the sixth witness.

The third prosecution witness had, at the preceding hearing, said no banking regulation was breached by the defendants.

The witness, Williams Abimbola, a Compliance Officer with UBA, had also admitted not being the relationship or account manager of the Kogi Government House account, noting that the transactions were in line with stipulated guidelines.

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