Yahaya Bello, the former governor of Kogi, filed a request to travel overseas on medical grounds at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday.

Mr Bello is currently on trial for an alleged ₦80.2 billion money laundering involving Kogi State government funds.

The defence counsel, Joseph Dauda (SAN), told the court that on June 20, 2025, a request was made to retrieve Mr Bello’s passport, as he needed to travel for medical reasons and would return in time for his trial.

“My lord, the substance of the application is for the release of his international passport in line with the conditions for the bail that, if he needs it, he has to apply to court.

“He has medical needs to attend to during the period of the vacation. After eight years of not travelling, he needs to attend to certain aspects of his health,” Mr Daudu said.

In response to the defence application, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), the EFCC’s counsel, told the court that they had submitted a counter-affidavit, claiming the application was technically incompetent.

Additionally, Mr Pinheiro informed the court that the same address was submitted verbatim to the FCT High Court, which is incorrect, stating that this behaviour amounts to “gambling”.

He stated that the appropriate process for such an application was for the defence attorney to submit the application to the Federal High Court before going to the FCT High Court to request permission.

“Secure the order for the release and seek permission from the other court in line with the order for bail that was granted,” Mr Pinheiro said.

He added that the defence counsel’s method of application was abusive and would cause confusion in the courts if both were to grant different rulings.

In another argument, Mr Pinheiro told the court that the medical grounds cited by the defendant were not critical or life-threatening, noting that being hypertensive and having low potassium was treatable in Nigeria. He added that the defendant appeared healthy and physically fit.

In response to the defendant’s counsel, Mr Daudu said they had in no way abused the court process and that the address was filed to both courts because they contained different parties. He held off on making any more statements and let the judge determine whether their travel application was adequate before approving it.

Meanwhile, during cross-examination by the defence counsel, the EFCC’s fourth witness (PW-4), Mshelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, informed the court that Mr Bello was neither a signatory to any of the accounts, an operator of the accounts, nor a beneficiary to the accounts.

“I’m here to speak on the document (exhibit) before me, and Yahaya Bello did not feature in any of the transactions or descriptions or beneficiaries in the document before me.

“He should restrict his statements to the document tendered as evidence because it’s a laundering charge, so the judge will decide who benefited by the end of the case,” Mr Pinheiro said, objecting to the defence attorney’s use of the word “benefited.”

At the beginning of the court proceedings, EFCC’s counsel alerted the judge to the harassment by the defendant’s security aides of its witness, PW-4. The witness, however, clarified that none of the defendant’s security details had harassed him.

The judge adjourned the trial to July 3 and 4 for its continuation and to July 21 for a ruling on the application to travel.

(NAN)