The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has acknowledged receipt of a $760,000 reimbursement for advanced school tuition paid by former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello for his children attending the American International School in Abuja.
The EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, confirmed the development to our correspondent in Abuja on Friday.
“The school has refunded the entire $ 760, 000 to the EFCC’s recovery account,” the official stated.
Earlier, the American International School of Abuja requested that the EFCC supply “authentic banking details” for the refund of fees paid for the former governor’s children.
Bello allegedly paid $720,000 in advance as fees for five of his children from Kogi State Government funds.
The students in the school range in grade levels from 2 to 8.
On April 17, EFCC agents surrounded Bello’s home in Abuja in an attempt to arrest him for an alleged N80.2 billion fraud.
While the agents were at the residence, Usman Ododo, Kogi’s governor, arrived and apparently snatched Bello away.
In a letter to the Lagos Zonal Commander of the EFCC, the school stated that $845,852 in tuition has been paid “since September 7th, 2021 to date.”
AISA stated that the amount to be reimbursed is $760,910 since it had subtracted educational services already given.
Please provide us an official written request, together with the EFCC’s authentic banking details, for the refund of the aforementioned sums, as previously indicated as part of your investigation into the Bello family’s suspected money laundering operations,” the letter states.
It continued, “Since September 7, 2021, $845,852.84 in tuition and other fees have been transferred into our bank account.
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We computed the net sum to be remitted and repaid to the State as $760,910.84, after deducting educational services given.
“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 stated it would notify the anti-graft agency if the Bello family made any additional deposits.
In a statement signed by Greg Hughes, AISA stated, “Ali Bello contacted the school on Friday, August 13, 2021, requesting to pay the family school fees in advance until the students graduate from high school.”
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, previously disclosed that the former governor moved $720,000 from the government’s funds to a bureau de change before leaving office to pay in advance for his child’s school fees.
Olukoyede confirmed this in a conversation with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday.
He stated, “A sitting governor, knowing he is leaving, shifted money directly from government to bureau de change and used it to pay the child’s school fees in advance, $720,000 in advance, in preparation of his departure from the Government House.
“In a poor state like Kogi, you want me to close my eyes under the guise of ‘I’m being used.'” Being used by whom at this point in my life?”