The Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, has dismissed an application by former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello challenging the court’s jurisdiction to hear the N110.4bn fraud charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Maryanne Anenih delivered the ruling on Tuesday in the charge marked FCT/CR/778/2024.
Bello is being prosecuted alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu on a 16-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and money laundering.
Bello had argued that the FCT High Court lacked territorial jurisdiction and that the proceedings amounted to an abuse of court process due to the pendency of a related charge, numbered FHC/ABJ/CR/98/2024, before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Opposing the application, prosecution counsel Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, submitted that the offences under the Penal Code are properly triable before the FCT High Court, particularly as the properties allegedly acquired with proceeds of the crime are located in Abuja.
Pinheiro further argued that the FCT case is distinct from the Federal High Court matter in terms of the offences, parties and legal provisions involved.
In her ruling, Justice Anenih upheld the prosecution’s arguments, holding that the court has jurisdiction to hear the case and that the proceedings do not constitute an abuse of process.
She dismissed Bello’s application for lacking merit and similarly dismissed an application filed by the third defendant.
Following the ruling, the court directed that the trial should continue.
The prosecution subsequently called its 16th witness, Baba Isah Usman Baffa, who testified that Shop B13 at Sherrif Plaza, Abuja, was sold to Ali Bello for N66m.
