Rabiu, a prosecution witness made the confession at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday while testifying in the trial of the former governor’s nephew, Ali Bello, and an alleged accomplice, Dauda Sulaiman.
The witness added that he renovated a house in Life Camp which he said belonged to the runaway former Governor and that he received payments in cash and bank transfers, stating that the least he received was N8 million from various people who paid him on behalf of Bello at number 9, Benghazi Street, Abuja, and sometimes at Ali Bello’s house in Life Camp, Abuja.
“No 9 Benghazi. I renovated the house (with) finishing and furnishing. I was paid about three hundred and something million naira. They paid me in cash, in instalments. Yes, I know the immediate-past governor of Kogi State. His name is Alhaji Yahya Bello. I knew him through his wife, Amina Yahya Bello, sometime in 2009,” the witness said.
Rabiu in the same vein confirmed knowing Ali Bello and Dauda Sulaiman, the two defendants in the case, adding that he has a Zenith Bank account through which he receives money through his company’s name, Falala Construction.
“At Jabi, I did renovations, finishing and polishing. I was paid around N200 million in cash in instalments. Life Camp. Yes, I did the furnishing and polishing. I can’t remember but it is around N200 million in cash’, he told the court
The witness recalled that his company was engaged to demolish and rebuild the Presidential Lodge in the Kogi State Government House confirming that he received more than N600 million for the job.
‘I also worked in Kogi State, Okene (Kogi State). I did the renovation. I remodelled the house and did the finishing. It was around N500 million. They paid me in cash. They were made in Abuja’, the business man added
Bello who is on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is facing separate charges of diverting over N80 billion from the state’s treasury, while two other defendants were charged with money laundering involving fraudulent diversion of N10 billion from Kogi State Government’s coffers during Bello’s tenue as Governor.