The African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, has reacted to the claim from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, allegedly made an advance payment of $720,000 in school fees for five of his children from the coffers of the Kogi State Government.
Yahaya Bello is being wanted by the EFCC for alleged misappropriation of funds while he was in office.
It should be noted that the school which is located in Abuja had sent a letter to the EFCC demanding for its account details to refund the money that Yahaya Bello paid as his children’s tuition fees.
The school said that the sum of $845,852 was paid in tuition since September 7th, 2021, to date, and that the school will refund the sum of $760,910 because it had deducted the educational services that had been rendered already.
In his reaction to the development, Sowore said that the school should be charged and prosecuted for money laundering instead of being allowed to refund the money.
In the statement he made on X, Sowore said that the EFCC should ensure that the school reveals all similar payments that politicians have made to them.
He said, “The American International School, Abuja, where former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello and his former Chief of Staff, Ali Bello, laundered close to $1 million in the name of paying ‘future school fees’ of their wards should be charged and prosecuted for money laundering instead of being allowed to refund the money; this is the way the American justice system treats such cases on the US soil.
“The EFCC must also ensure the school discloses all such school fees paid by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), I am sure there are a lot of discoveries that would be uncovered such that the school could be converted to a public school instead of its criminal connivance with financial criminals fleecing the Nigerian public across board, these must necessary apply to these ultra-expensive private schools in Nigeria…..CHECK MORE
