Yahaya Bello: Abuja American School Writes EFCC, To Refund $760k School Fees

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Featured, Latest Headlines, News, News Across Nigeria Friday, April 26th, 2024

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The American International School of Abuja has enjoined the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to present an “authentic banking details” for the refund of fees paid for the children of the immediate-past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

Bello allegedly paid $760,000 in advance as school fees for five of his children who are in grade levels 2 to 8 from the pockets of the Kogi state government.

It could be recalled that on April 17, EFCC operatives laid siege on Bello’s residence in Abuja as they try to arrest him over an alleged N80.2 billion fraud but according to reports, Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi State, arrived the scene and whisked Bello away.

In a letter addressed to the Lagos zonal commander of the EFCC, the school stated that the sum of $845,852 has been paid in tuition “since the 7th of September 2021 to date”.

According to the school, the sum to be refunded is $760,910 after deducting the educational services rendered.

“Please forward to us an official written request, with the authentic banking details of the EFCC, for the refund of the above-mentioned funds as previously indicated as part of your investigation into the alleged money laundering activities by the Bello family,” the letter reads.

“Since the 7th September 2021 to date, $845,852.84 (Eight Hundred and Forty-Five Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty-Two US Dollars and eighty-four cent in tuition and other fees have been deposited into our Bank account.

“We have calculated the net amount to be transferred and refunded to the State, after deducting the educational services rendered as $760,910.84. (Seven Hundred and Sixty Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ten US Dollars and Eighty-Four cents).

“No further additional fees are expected in respect of tuition as the students’ fees have now been settled until they graduate from ASIA.”

The school also disclosed that it would inform the EFCC if there were any further deposits by the Bello family.

In a statement signed by Greg Hughes, AISA also said “Ali Bello contacted the school on Friday 13 August 2021 requesting to pay the family school fees in advance until the students graduate from High School”.

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed a former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, transferred $720,000 from the government’s coffers to a bureau de change before the end of his tenure to pay in advance for his child’s school fee.

He said: “A sitting governor, because he knows he is going, moved money directly from government to bureau de change, used it to pay the child’s school fee in advance, $720,000 in advance, in anticipation that he was going to leave the Government House.

“In a poor state like Kogi, and you want me to close my eyes to that under the guise of ‘I’m being used.’ Being used by who at this stage of my life?”