EFCC siege: Abuja, Kogi courts issue counter orders over Yahaya Bello

A federal high court in Abuja has issued an arrest warrant
against Yahaya Bello, a former governor of Kogi state.

Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, granted the arrest warrant
to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday.

However, in a dramatic twist, a Kogi high court presided
over by I. A Jamil has restrained the anti-graft agency from arresting the
former governor.

In suit no HCL/68/M/2020, the court restrained the EFCC from
“arresting, detaining and prosecuting the applicant except as authorised by the
court”.

The judge said the ruling is a “definite order following the
earlier interim injunction”.

The judgment followed the suit brought before the court by
the former governor seeking to enforce his fundamental rights against the EFCC.

The court equally also restrained the anti-graft agency from
continuing to persecute Bello.

Earlier in the judgment, the court dismissed the issue of
jurisdiction as challenged by the EFCC.

S.A Abbas and M.S Yusuf, counsel to Bello, described the
judgment as a landmark while T.U Odima and Patrick O. Jibril, lawyers to the
EFCC, also aligned themselves to the ruling, describing it as thorough.

The operatives of the EFCC had laid siege on the Abuja
residence of Bello on Wednesday morning.