How it started. As at 9:30am Wednesday morning EFCC operatives stormed Yahaya Bello’s Abuja home to arrest him over an alleged 80.2billion money laundering probe. But the EFCC were met with stiff resistance.

The resistance at Yahaya Bello’s home was coordinated by his security aides and some Kogi youths who were protesting, albeit, angrily in front of his home.

The security aides included police officers, CTU, ‘Special Forces,’ and later, DSS operatives who came with governor Ododo.

Journalists including myself were on ground reporting, and also scared for our lives as the place was too rowdy, and it looked like a riot or shootout could have happened at any moment yesterday.

It got worse when Ododo arrived, tear gas were thrown, & people scampered to safety.

 

Governor Usman Ododo’s arrival at Yahaya Bello’s home with heavy security, including DSS operatives Yahaya Bello’s Abuja residence was like Gaza in Palestine. At some point, I was scared for my life.

It was like Hollywood movie.

The security operatives present at Yahaya Bello’s home would be enough to secure the whole of Ikeja, the Lagos State capital.

Kogi Governor, Ododo arrived at about 2:30 pm, and was allowed into Bello’s home, while EFCC operatives were not allowed.

We all waited for about two hours, making calls to EFCC, Kogi State Government House, and Yahaya Bello’s media aides for updates, but there was none, So, one of my surest sources at the EFCC picked at about 3:30 pm, and she confirmed to me that the operatives aim was to arrest Yahaya Bello, because he had been evading arrest and running around hiding, until he was traced to his Abuja home through the phone of one of his aides!

Few minutes later, we started seeing EFCC operatives reinforcing to Yahaya Bello’s home, probably because they were overwhelmed by Yahaya Bello’s security details – police, SF, vigilante, CTU, alongside Ododo’s security details – DSS and others.

It was about to get more interesting

Then the unthinkable yet predictable (by some of us), happened.

At exactly 4:20pm, Governor Ododo and his security aides drove out with his predecessor, Yahaya Bello, and the EFCC could not stop the governor’s motorcade. That was how Ododo helped Bello evade EFCC arrest!

Few minutes after they left, EFCC operatives retreated, not long after that, Yahaya Bello’s security aides and the young protesters left too.

The a Kogi court restrained EFCC from arresting Bello, while Abuja High Court granted the EFCC an arrest warrant!

EFCC issued warning!

Abiodun Sanusi