Leaked WhatsApp chats reveal ex-Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello is planning to bribe judges with dollars

The immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello has been accused of planning to bribe judges who are set to preside over his alleged fraud and money laundering case filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

In a report by SaharaReporters, a WhatsApp chat from a group named “Only Ododo 4 Const” shows how the former governor was plotting to bribe the judges with wads of dollar bills.

The EFCC had filed 19 criminal charges against Bello and declared him wanted for allegedly misappropriating over N80 billion in public funds. The police had also detained the female police officer who served as the aide-de-camp to Bello along with other security details for aiding his escape from the anti-corruption agency’s operatives in Abuja.

Members of the WhatsApp platform include; Evangelist Kinsley Fanwo, who served as Commissioner for Information and Communications in Bello’s administration in Kogi State and currently serves in the government of Governor Usman Ododo; Barr. Salami Ozigi-Deedat, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Hon. Umar Oricha Shaibu, the Director General of Kogi State Government House.

In the conversations, Fanwo disclosed that Bello informed him about his plan to bribe all the judges handling his case. The commissioner said Bello had converted some funds from naira notes to dollars, which would make it more appealing to the sitting judges.

According to Fanwo, the former governor had secured the assistance of someone who would help deliver the money to the judges.

He wrote: “My honorable, no fear 0o. Ogah is on top of his game, l spoke with him and he told me that he has converted the entire money to dollars he don get who go help am deliver to those judges.

“Even if Oga (Bello) turns himself in or not, if the money gets to the judges, we are sure of victory. The enemies will soon cry.”

Confirming Fanwo’s claim, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State, Abdullahi Bello, said the party was taking all necessary steps before the former governor would meet the judges in person.

He said, “The necessary things will be done before we meet the judges.”

Below are screenshots of the leaked WhatsApp chat