EFCC vs YAHAYA BELLO: WHEN PAYING SCHOOL FEES IS TURNED INTO A “CRIME”

EFCC vs YAHAYA  BELLO: WHEN PAYING SCHOOL FEES IS TURNED INTO A “CRIME”

The latest courtroom drama by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against former Kogi governor Yahaya Bello, on the 12th of March,2026, at the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, raises a troubling question: since when did paying children’s school fees become evidence of fraud?

Testimony about $760,910 paid to American International School Abuja proves only one simple fact-parents invest in their children’s education. 

A sitting governor is neither forbidden from paying fees nor from paying them in advance.

The EFCC’s argument stretches routine parental responsibility into sensational accusation. None of the witnesses established that Alhaji Yahaya Bello  personally diverted public funds; they merely recited transactions and assumptions.

Public office does not make a man too poor to educate his children, nor does it criminalize how he chooses to pay their fees. Until clear proof of wrongdoing emerges, the allegations appear less like justice and more like speculation.

Signed: 

Ismaila Ohiare Jnr.

Author/Public Policy Analyst 

Lokoja-Kogi.

08134536226.