Breaking: Court restates arrest of Yahaya Bello in fresh order

Breaking: Court restates arrest of Yahaya Bello in fresh order

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday gave a fresh order for the arrest of former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

It stated that the ex-governor had no regard for the court by failing to appear before it.

He was lampooned for attempting to truncate a criminal case initiated against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Justice Emeka Nwite restated the order it made on April 17, which directed security agencies to arrest and produce him to answer to the 19 counts slammed against him.

According to the court, the former governor, by briefing lawyers to challenge its jurisdiction to try him, while he remained in hiding, showed that he “has no atom of respect and regard for the court.”

It held that Bello’s decision to file the application “is clearly showing his intention not to present himself for trial”.

“The law is settled that he who has disobeyed an order of court and shown disrespect to the court cannot expect a favourable discretion of the court.

“The honourable thing the defendant would have done was to obey the order of court by making himself available.

“Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, mandates all persons and authority to give effect to orders of court.

“He has wilfully disobeyed the order of this court. An order of court of competent jurisdiction, no matter how it was obtained, subsists until it is set aside.

“A party who refuses to obey an order of court after becoming aware of it, is in contempt of court.

“He is not entitled to be heard or granted a favourable discretion. The refusal of the defendant to make himself available is solely to truncate the arraignment and prevent the court from proceeding further in this case.”

Justice Nwite held that Bello’s decision to treat the order of the court with levity was previously condemned by the Supreme Court.

“In view of the forgoing analysis, I am of the view and I so hold, that no application can be moved or heard unless the defendant is present before the court to take his plea,” the judge stated.

Bello, after eight years as Kogi State governor, is facing a charge bordering on his alleged complicity in money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of about N80.2bn.