The Sixth Prosecution Witness, PW6, Mshelia Arhyel in the trial of former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, on Thursday, October 9, 2025, narrated before Justice Maryanne Anineh of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Maitama, Abuja how the third defendant, Abdulsami Hudu made multi-million naira withdrawals from Kogi State Government Account.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is prosecuting Bello alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu on a 16-count charge, bordering on criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of N110.4 billion.
The witness, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank Plc was in court on a subpoena to tender bank statements on the accounts of Kogi State Government House, Macelina Njuku, Bespoque, Aleshua Solution Services, Wales Limited, Jagaya limited and Jimeta among others under the guidance of prosecuting counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN.
In his testimony on the account of the Kogi State Government House, he revealed that there were 10 cheque withdrawals on January 15, 2016.
Testifying further, he disclosed that “On the19th January 2016, there were five debit entries, of which the beneficiary of these withdrawals is Abdulsalam Hudu. On 12th February 2016, there were 21 debit entries and the beneficiary is Abdulsalam Hudu, eight of the withdrawals were N10 million each. Additional nine of the withdrawals were also for Abdulsalami Hudu.
“On 17 and 18 February, 2016, there were various cash payments and on 24th, 25th and 26th February and the 3rd of March 2016, there were various cash withdrawals in favour of Abdulsalam Hudu. In the withdrawal of 3rd of March 2016, there were 37 transactions and all are below N10 million. There are consistent multiple cash withdrawals on different dates by Abdulsalam Hudu. They were all below the N10 million and below the threshold,” he said.
Furthermore, he revealed that “On 30th and 31st January 2018, there were cheque withdrawals by Abdulsalami Hudu which were N10 million each. On 30th January 2018, the total cash withdrawals amounted to N350 million and on 31 January, 2018, the withdrawals totaled N357, 267,000 ( Three Hundred and Fifty-seven million, Two hundred and Sixty-seven Thousand), with everything totaling N757,267,000 (Seven Hundred and Fifty Seven Million, Two Hundred and Sixty-Seven Thousand) in two days”
Testifying on the account statement of Aleshua Solutions Services on the transactions on May 6, 2022, the witness said the first entry was a transfer in favour of Aleshua Solutions Services by B.O. Rosemary Chukwuma, in the sum of $2,500. The second was a transfer in favour of Yau for $5,000. The third was also a cash transfer of $5,000 to Yau.
The witness also disclosed transactions on December 6, 2016 from the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service, totaling ₦202,302,740.20 ( Two hundred and two million, three hundred and two thousand, Seven hundred and forty naira, twenty kobo) and eleven cash withdrawals amounting to N101 million in favour of Jamiu Salawo. He also disclosed that on April 24, 2017, there were seven withdrawals totaling N66 million and there was also a N167 million cash withdrawals.
The Fifth Prosecuting Witness, PW5, Victoria Oluwafemi, a compliance officer with Polaris Bank, who during the proceedings of Wednesday, October 8, 2025 brought a subpoena to tender bank documents in respect of SFC Foods Limited and JIT Agric Limited, disclosed that there were credit transactions from different sources to SFC Foods account on December 21, 2021 amounting to N450 million. Eight transactions, she disclosed occurred on December 24, 2021 from Bello Shehu Bala.
Speaking further, she revealed that on December 23 and 24, 2021, there were multiple credit transactions and electronic transfers from different sources, all of which were N10 million, each totaling N150 million to JIT Agric Limited.
Defence counsels, J.B Dauda, SAN and A.M Aliyu, SAN objected to the admissibility of the documents, stating that they did not comply with the provisions of Sections 83, 84 and 165 of the Evidence Act, while
Pinheiro urged the court to discountenance their objection.
Justice Anineh adjourned the matter till November 12 and 13, 2025.
