Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency has presented new bank documents in the ongoing trial of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, who is facing charges of alleged fraud and money laundering amounting to ₦10.4bn.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tendered the additional records on Thursday at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, where Mr Bello is standing trial alongside two co-defendants, Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu.
All three are accused of criminal breach of trust and laundering public funds. They have pleaded not guilty to the 16-count charge.
The trial, presided over by Justice Maryanne Anineh, featured testimony from several bank compliance officers summoned by the prosecution.
A Zenith Bank compliance officer, Mashelia Bata, appeared as a prosecution witness and was questioned on statements of account linked to the Kogi State Government House. He confirmed multiple high-value transactions, including cheque payments and transfers running into tens of millions of naira.
Under cross-examination, the witness told the court that while the bank records showed the amounts and recipients, they did not indicate the specific purpose for which the funds were spent.
He also confirmed that withdrawals from the account were authorised by designated signatories, including senior government officials and accountants, and that the former governor was not the sole operator of the account.
According to the testimony, the account received several large inflows in 2016, including funds described as “security votes” and payments from the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service. The court heard that these inflows were often followed by withdrawals made shortly afterwards.
The witness said some transaction descriptions, such as “sec fund”, were not standard banking terms and could not be interpreted by the bank.
The EFCC also called witnesses from Keystone Bank and Sterling Bank, who presented statements of account for companies allegedly linked to the case.
A Keystone Bank official told the court that in February 2021 alone, there were multiple transfers of ₦10m each into one of the accounts, totalling about ₦100m over a few days. Another Sterling Bank witness identified credits running into hundreds of millions of naira, with some transactions traced to the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service.
Defence lawyers raised objections to some of the documents, reserving their reasons for a later stage in the trial.
After hearing the testimonies, Justice Anineh adjourned the case until Friday, 16 January 2026, for the continuation of the trial.
The EFCC says the bank records are part of its effort to prove how public funds were allegedly moved and spent during Mr Bello’s time in office. The defence maintains that the transactions were lawful and carried out in the normal course of government business.
