Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, on Tuesday, vowed to resign should Yahaya Bello, former Governor of Kogi State, is not prosecuted for his financial crimes.
The EFCC is prosecuting Bello on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.
Olukoyede who spoke in Abuja during an interactive session with media executives said “If I do not personally oversee the completion of the investigation regarding Yahaya Bello, I will tender my resignation as the EFCC Chair.”
He furthered that everyone involved in obstructing Bello’s arrest from his Abuja residence will face the full wrath of the law.
According to him, he invited Bello to his office for a more “respectful and dignified” interrogation, but the ex-governor wanted EFCC operatives to grill him in his village instead.
“I called Yahaya Bello, as a serving governor, to come to my office to clear himself. I shouldn’t have done that.
“But he said because a certain senator has planted over 100 journalists in my office, he would not come.
READ ALSO: EFCC Arrests Ex-Aviation Minister Over Alleged N8bn Nigeria Air Fraud
“I told him that he would be allowed to use my private gate to give him a cover, but he said my men should come to his village to interrogate him,” he said.
The EFCC, he restated, did not violate any law while trying to arrest the former governor from his residence.
“Rather, we have obeyed the law. I inherited the case and I didn’t create it. Why has he not submitted himself to the law?
“I have arraigned two past governors who have been granted bail now — Willie Obiano and Abdulfatah Ahmed.
“We would have gone after Bello since January but we waited for the court order.
“As early as 7 am, my gallant men were there. Over 50 of them. They mounted surveillance.
“We met over 30 armed policemen there. We would have exchanged fire and there would have been casualties.
“My men were about to move in when the governor of Kogi drove in and they later changed the narrative,” he added.
Olukoyede noted that all those who have dipped their hands into the nation’s coffers would be investigated and prosecuted.
“If I can do Obiano, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Chief Olu Agunloye, my kinsman, why not Yahaya Bello?” he queried .
