A federal high court in Abuja has refused to vacate a warrant of arrest issued against Yahaya Bello, former Kogi state governor.

Emeka Nwite, presiding judge, criticised Bello for filing applications despite his refusal to show up in court.

He described the actions of the former governor as an attempt to truncate the case preferred against him 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.

The commission had also obtained a warrant of arrest against the former governor on April 17.

At the scheduled arraignment on April 18, Bello was absent.

Abdulwahab Mohammed, counsel to Bello, had told the judge that the court lacked jurisdiction to grant the warrant of arrest in the first instance.

He referenced the February 9 interim injunction issued by the Kogi high court, which restrained the commission from arresting Bello.

At another court session, 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.

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.

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

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have arrived in Nigeria for their 72-hour tour to promote the Invictus Games.

They arrived on Friday after boarding the British Airways overnight flight to Abuja which was slightly delayed after the scheduled pilot went sick, and a replacement had to be quickly arranged.

Some Nigerian officials met them on arrival, just before 5 am, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Afterward, they were taken out of a side door onto the jetty, and into a waiting blacked-out minibus.

“They will be tired after their journey, so they will rest and then the first engagement is at midday at the Defence Headquarters,” defence spokesperson Brigadier General Tukur Gusau told the Daily Mail.

“After that, they will travel to Kaduna to meet wounded soldiers at a military hospital there before returning to Abuja for other engagements.”

The visit primarily to promote the Invictus Games comes after Harry met the Nigerian team and the Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa at last year’s competition in Dusseldorf, Germany.

It was there that he told the audience Meghan was ‘rooting for Team Nigeria’, after discovering she had heritage from the West African nation.

Harry and Meghan are visiting Nigeria at the invitation of General Musa.

The couple is due to visit a school before the duke meets injured service members at a military hospital.

They will also attend a training session for the charity organisation Nigeria: Unconquered which collaborates with the Invictus Games, as well as a reception where military families will be honoured.

On Saturday, the couple will attend a training session for the organisation, Nigeria: Unconquered, and a reception hosted by the Chief of Defence Staff in honour of military families.

In the afternoon, Meghan will co-host an event of Women in Leadership with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization.

On Sunday, the couple will attend a basketball clinic with Giants of Africa, a cultural reception, and a polo fundraiser for Nigeria: Unconquered.

In 2022, the Duchess of Sussex revealed that she had discovered via a genealogy test that she was 43% Nigerian.

Talking about it in her Archetypes podcast, she told comedian Ziwe, “I’m going to start to dig deeper into all this because anybody that I’ve told, especially Nigerian women, are like ‘What!’ ”

“This is huge for our community. No, honestly, you do look like a Nigerian, you look like my Aunt Uzo. So this is great,” Ziwe, 30, said.

The bill seeking to impose a death penalty on those convicted of drug trafficking has passed the third reading at the senate.

The upper legislative chamber passed the bill on Thursday after Tahir Monguno, senator representing Borno north, presented a report on behalf of the joint committees on judiciary and drugs and narcotics.

While presenting the report, Monguno said there is a need to strengthen the war against drugs in the country.

After the report was presented, the senate went into the “committee of the whole” to consider clauses of the bill where some senators disagreed with the death sentence.

When put to a voice vote, Barau Jibrin, deputy senate president, gave it to the “ayes”.

Thereafter, Adams Oshiomhole, a senator representing Edo north, said the senate should be careful with any law that deals with life.

“Anything that deals with life, we should be careful,” Oshiomhole said.

Responding, Jibrin said Oshiomhole should have called for a divide.

“I’m sorry my former national chairman… you should have called for a divide, it is your right, but we have passed it,” the deputy senate president said.

Also, Akpan Ekong, senator representing Akwa Ibom south, tried to come under “personal explanation” to disapprove of the provision, but Jibrin ruled him out of order.

The bill, which originated from the house of representatives, will be sent to the president for assent if there are no differences between the two chambers of the national assembly.

If there are differences, the two chambers will set up a conference committee to harmonise the grey areas before it is sent for assent.

In recent times, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has been making substantial seizures of substances ranging from cannabis to opioids from suspected traffickers.