JUST IN: Court grants Yahaya Bello N500m bail, fixes trial for Feb 24

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday granted the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, N500 million bail with two sureties in the like sum.

Justice Emeka Nwite in a ruling held that the sureties must be owners of landed property in Abuja.

Aside from directing the sureties to tender the title documents of the property, which must be verified by the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court, Justice Nwite equally ordered them to swear to an affidavit of means.

According to the court, both the defendant and the sureties must submit their recent passport photographs.

It further ordered the former governor to surrender his international passport and not travel outside the country without permission.

The court held that the defendant should remain at Kuje prison, pending the perfection of the bail conditions.

It subsequently slated February 24 and February 28 for the commencement of Bello’s trial in the 19-count money laundering charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Bello, who was the governor of Kogi state from 2016 to 2024, had before the ruling pleaded his innocence to his alleged complicity in an N80.2 billion fraud.

Specifically, the EFCC alleged that he used five proxies to acquire choice properties in highbrow areas of Abuja and Dubai.