By Sunday Ani

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Head, Tinubu Media Support in the 2023 presidential Campaign, Jesutega Onokpasa, in this interview monitored on Arise TV, spoke on the faceoff between former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and how the former governor has been targeted by political enemies among other issues.

 

 

What can you say about what played out in the residence of former Governor Yahaya Bello when the EFCC barricaded his residence in Abuja in an attempt to arrest him over alleged money laundering?

There was a court order which said that EFCC should not arrest you, and you ought not to hand yourself over to them. It is simple. You cannot thumb your nose at the court and insist; also where a court has ordered you not to arrest and you have not gone to court to vacate that order. I cooperate with you to break the law? To thumb your nose at the court? Absolutely no. It is for you to go to court and vacate the order. If the court which made the order refuses to vacate it, well go on appeal, we are a country of laws.

Was your principal being misled when he asked that the …

No, my principal, President Bola Tinubu has not said anything concerning this matter. He is not involved in this matter. He is not interested in the matter. President Bola Tinubu does not get involved in matters of such.

But he is interested in fighting corruption…

Of course, yes. He will fight corruption according to laws. Let nobody mention the name of President Bola Tinubu in this matter. We know where this nonsense is coming from. It is just shenanigans. There is a valid court order. The order says do not arrest this person. There was even a variation to the order. Go to appeal, and seek leave of the Court of Appeal to prosecute the gentle man. Even if the court order has come from a customary court, it should be obeyed. Nobody is above the law. The motto of EFCC is “Nobody is Above the Law” starting with the EFCC, not even the Attorney General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), is above the law. Who is above the law? Not even somebody with immunity is above the law.  The immunity is there to aid you to execute the law. No one is above the law, not an agency.  The EFCC chairman who can only jail cross dressers is there thumbing his nose at our courts. My learned friend, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) is saying that he would send the army. After who? On what basis?

What has the army got to do with the matter?

Can you imagine? I am quoting Kemi Pinheiro. He said he would send the army to arrest Yahaya Bello. The IGP of police said he has withdrawn Yahaya Bello’s security detail. So, what impression are you giving to the gentleman? This is a politically exposed person.

I was going to ask you, is it in the realm of truism or speculation that former Governor Yahaya Bello is a victim of persecution here within the ranks of your party because one would be surprised that he is an APC chieftain just like you and the rest, why is he being persecuted?

It is obvious. First of all there was this allegation that Yahaya Bello within a matter of weeks or months misappropriated N80 billion from Kogi State. I don’t know how much money Kogi State has? I am from Delta State and I know how much money different states have. I don’t know how anyone will be able to misappropriate N80 billion in Kogi State, even over eight years. How much money is there in Kogi State? In one first instance, you thumbed your nose at the court, you did not serve the former governor. You didn’t even invite him. Now he has a court order. He is entitled to place reliance on court order. Of course, he would not cooperate with you to break the law. You have not vacated the order, you did not serve him, and then you declared him wanted. On what basis? At this rate, these guys because they hate you, they have a personal problem with you, they have political differences with you, then they will declare you wanted.

Does the political difference in any way emanate from Yahaya Bello’s ambition to be the national chairman of your party?

I am not aware of that. Frankly, I don’t believe that personally. I think this thing has to do with certain people having differences with Yahaya Bello and they are using their positions in government to harass a serious contributor to the success of President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election. I don’t use and dump people. I am a politician and I know what each and every one contributed to the success of our president. Anybody who contributed votes to the success of my principal, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that person is my brother, and I don’t joke with such people. As a politician, it is a question of the votes you brought. All the people that have ganged up against Yahaya Bello, none of them contributed as much to the success of President Tinubu as Yahaya Bello. I don’t even have Yahaya Bello’s number on my phone. I am not holding brief for him. I am doing this as a stakeholder in my party, as chieftain in my party.

There seems to be a discordant tune in your party on this Yahaya Bello issue, some of them are saying, let him just go to the EFCC…

He should go to EFCC because EFCC is God? EFCC is not above the law. I am a senior lawyer. Even the police are not above the law. They are creatures of the law.  How can a court tell you not to touch somebody and you dare touch that person? If a court says nobody should touch somebody, even the president of the country should obey. I am standing with Yahaya Bello, he was a major contributor to the success of the President.

There was this narrative that Bello didn’t step down for Asiwaju. Who cares? If you can recall the primaries that Joe Biden won in the United States of America that made him the candidate of the party, nobody insulted him more than Kamala Harris.

During the debate she would dress Joe Biden down. Is it not the same Kamala Harris that Joe Biden picked as his running mate? Do I care what Yahaya Bello must have said about Asiwaju yesterday? I don’t care; as long as he helped Asiwaju to win the election, he is my brother and I am not denying him.

We must all be careful in this party. How do you withdraw the security detail of a former governor? Do you want him to be killed? How is the man even going to have confidence to show his face? If Yahaya Bello shows up in this neighbourhood without any security detail, can you guarantee what will happen to him? You just put the man under a state of confusion as if there is a plan to harm him. Every sitting governor, every former governor should be concerned about this because it can happen to anybody. Tomorrow, you have a problem with somebody and you are no longer in power and they say they have withdrawn your security detail. Are you sending somebody to go and harm him?

What is this issue in your party that is fuelling this standoff between Yahaya Bello and EFCC or is Yahaya Bello is already feeling guilty and doesn’t want to appear in court because the EFCC said it has got another court order from the federal high court?

What does that order say? It is not an order. According to EFCC, they had a warrant of arrest for Yahaya Bello and then they mobilized to Yahaya Bello’s neighbourhood wearing bandanas and I don’t know when that became the official uniform of the EFCC. I donw’t even know whether Yahaya Bello was even at the premises at that time. I heard one story that Governor Usman Ododo came there. I didn’t even see Usman Ododo even in the videos you played on your channel. All that, is within the realm of speculation. Now a warrant of arrest is under administrative law. It cannot be a court order. A court has ordered, ‘don’t touch this person. We must all be concerned about this. If a court has ordered, all of us must obey that court, otherwise you don’t have civility.

Is it possible for a court of coordinate jurisdiction to grant an arrest warrant with a subsisting court order?

Absolutely not. I think that the EFCC was trying to be clever by half. They didn’t inform the court where they went to obtain a warrant of arrest that they have already been restrained from touching the gentleman. There was even a time of this news about EFCC friendly judges. They think that they can intimidate everybody. Who will stand for that? We have rights as citizens and nobody does us any favour by not harassing us. You want to harass people over what? They have fundamental human rights. They have citizens’ rights. They have constitutional rights, and not to talk of someone who is a former governor. They withdrew his security detail. If anything happens to Yahaya Bello, who is going to be held responsible? Evenme who has never been a governor, if the Inspector General of Police is convinced that I am in danger, it is his obligation to protect me. He is not doing me a favour. He has a duty to do that, not to talk of a former Governor.

As an APC chieftain, your party is versed in saying it stands against corruption…

100 percent. We are all against corruption. Starting from President Bola Tinubu. He is totally against corruption.

Why wouldn’t you want him to face the law?

He is facing the law. He went to court. It is as if we don’t have the right to go to court again.

Is he hiding?

Hiding from who? He has a court judgment and the court judgment says, ‘don’t harass him. Does anybody have any proof that Yahaya Bello is running from anywhere? Nobody has. At this material time, can you even prove that Yahaya Bello is hiding? All these are within the realm of speculation. Who saw him hiding? The man has a court judgment and the order says, don’t arrest him. The next thing, you mobilized to his house. Is he not even entitled to be apprehensive, assuming he is even within that vicinity? What are these people planning?

How about the chief law officer of the federation, why is Yahaya Bello not taking his advice?

With due respect to the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), he is not a court of law. Even the customary Court is superior to the Attorney General of the Federation. It is not right for the Attorney General of the Federation to sit in appeal over a court order. Go and vacate the court order, simple. Nobody is senior to a court, not even the president of a country. It is not for the Attorney General of the Federation to decide whether a court order should be obeyed or not. No, go back to court and vacate the order.