Yahaya Bello Vs. EFCC: American school refunds $760,910 meant to cover 14 years fee

The American International School of Abuja has returned $760,910.84 of $845,852 allegedly deposited to the school to the country’s anti-graft agency.

The Nation reported that the school returned $760,910.84 to EFCC regarding the deposited school fees for five former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.

The anti-graft agency earlier prosecuted Yahaya Bello for allegedly defrauding the state of the sum of N80.2 billion to pay his children’s school fees, which the former governor denied, and said he would not succumb to any blackmail to “come through the backdoor.”

The $845,852 was said to have been paid to the school by the former governor in August 2021 to cover the education of four of his children in the school and another “to be enrolled in August 2022 if the application is successful and there is space available.”

According to documents filed in court by the anti-graft agency to support its case against the ex-governor, the fees were to cover a period of 14 years (2021–2035).

A top source in EFCC told The Nation, “The American school refunded the school fees in two tranches. Initially, it returned $720,000 to the EFCC and later $40,910.”

The source added: “Following a mutual agreement with the EFCC, the school decided to retain some fees (I think $84,942) for its services.

“This is one of the aspects of our investigation which made us ask Bello to come for interaction. But it is already part of our documents front-loaded to the Federal High Court in Abuja.