Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi, says his failure to appear before a federal high court in Abuja is due to fear of arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC is seeking to arraign Bello on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.

Although the arraignment was initially scheduled for April 18, Bello was absent from court on the day.

At the resumed court session on Tuesday, Adeola Adedipe, a member of Bello’s legal team, said his client would have appeared in court but was worried about being taken into custody.

“The defendant wants to come to court but he is afraid that there is an order of arrest hanging on his head,” Adedipe said.

He asked the court to revoke the warrant of arrest issued on April 17 against the former governor.

Adedipe argued that the charge had not been served on his client as required by law at the time the warrant of arrest was made.

“As at the time the warrant was issued, the order for substituted service had not been made. That order was just made this morning,” he said.

“A warrant of arrest should not be hanging on his neck when we leave this court,” counsel to the defendant added.

However, Kemi Pinheiro, EFCC’s lawyer, argued that for the arrest warrant to be vacated, the former governor must be arraigned and take his plea.

Earlier, Emeka Nwite, presiding judge, made an order directing that the defendant should be served the charges by substituted means through his lawyers.

On Tuesday, a Dana Air plane veered off the Lagos airport runway, leading to the diversion of other flights to the international airport.

In a post by X user, BelemaMhart — who boarded another airline — it was stated that there were no casualties.

“We were about to land in Lagos and the pilot announced, he had to land at international and Taxi to local airport,” BelemaMhart said.

“On getting here, we learnt Dana Air had issues on landing, that was the reason our pilot was asked to land at the international airport.

“Thank God all passengers on Dana are safe.”

Six months before this incident, the aircraft engine of a Dana Air plane reportedly exploded shortly before take-off from Lagos.

However, in a statement by the company, Dana Air denied the explosion, saying its aircraft only experienced “some operational challenges” leading to “non-scheduled maintenance”.

Also, in July 2022, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) suspended Dana Air for multiple regulatory infractions.

The authority said it suspended the operating licences of the company after “discovering that the airline is no longer in a position to meet its financial obligations and to conduct safe flight operations”.

Dana Air resumed flight operations five months after the suspension.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has sealed the Chinese supermarket located within the China General Chamber of Commerce in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Officials of the FCCPC stormed the premises and shut the supermarket on Monday.

The commission’s officials sealed up the place following the interrogation of Nigerian workers at the supermarket.

Recall that Nigerians had expressed outrage over a discriminatory policy implemented by the Chinese Supermarket for barring Nigerians.

The supermarket only granted exclusive entry to Chinese nationals in the country.

According to the facility manager of the complex, Shaibu Sanusi, Nigerians from outside the complex do not shop but Nigerians within can access it.

This was as facilities workers at the store disclosed that the owner of the supermarket had fled the premises.

The workers, who were largely Nigerians, disclosed that the owner of the supermarket had fled when the officials of the Commission stormed the supermarket on Monday.

The workers said that the owner of the supermarket, a Chinese lady, Cindy Liu Bei, fled on Monday at 8:26 am with her family as confirmed on the Closed-Circuit Television camera.

The FCCPC officials subsequently shut down the supermarket.