• Witness says withdrawals by Kogi breached no banking law

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and one-time Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, wanted for alleged conspiracy and dishonest conversion of $14,859,257.
 
However, the fourth prosecution witness of the EFCC in the alleged N80.2 billion fraud against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has reaffirmed that the state government’s fund withdrawals did not breach any banking law.
 
According to the EFCC, the funds Sylva allegedly tampered with were part of the amount injected by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) into Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited for the construction of a refinery. 
 
In a notice signed by Dele Oyewale, Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, alleged that Sylva and others dishonestly converted part of the investment for personal use.
 
The Commission secured a warrant for the arrest of the former minister on November 6, 2025, at a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos. 
The Order, granted by Justice D.I. Dipeolu, stated that, “an order is made issuing a warrant to the applicant or any officer of the commission, police or any law enforcement officer for the arrest of the respondent for the purpose of bringing him before the commission to answer to the criminal offence he is alleged to have committed.”
 
In a release yesterday, the EFCC urged anyone with useful information on Sylva’s whereabouts to contact any of its zonal directorates across the country or the nearest police station and other security agencies.

DURING cross-examination before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, yersterday, Mshelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, also reiterated that the name of the former governor did not appear as beneficiary in the account presented as evidence. 
 
The defence counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), had drawn the witness’ attention to certain withdrawals by one Umar Comfort Olufunke, which the prosecution did not mention.
 
The prosecution had concentrated on withdrawals by Abdulsalam Hudu, the cashier of Kogi Government House.  The withdrawals, in multiples of N10 million, were between December 2017 and April 2018, with beneficiaries being various hotels in Kogi, according to the witness. 
 
During cross-examination, the witness also confirmed withdrawals made by one Alhassan Omakoji between November 2021 and December 2022, which did not exceed N10 million per transaction. 
 
He stated that the withdrawals were in line with the limits set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), acknowledging that he was not aware of any law regulating how the Kogi government spends its funds or allocation.
 
The prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), thereafter stated that he had no re-examination for Mshelia and requested that he be discharged.  The witness had, at the last hearing, confirmed that the former governor was neither a signatory to nor connected with any of the accounts presented as evidence.
 
The prosecution team then began to remove the documents that were deemed irrelevant. Justice Nwite adjourned the matter till November 11 (today) for continuation of the trial.