In what some observers have termed as a drama sketch being acted at the pleasure of the powers that be, a large crowd of women took to the streets on Saturday to protest what they called the harassment of former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The protesters appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene, urging him to rein in the EFCC. They maintained that Bello had accomplished more for the state than any other governor since its inception.
Led by various community leaders and political supporters, the women gathered in Lokoja, the state capital, denouncing what they called a politically motivated “witch-hunt” by the EFCC.
The group urged the President to act swiftly by ensuring the EFCC allows the judiciary to handle the matter. They claimed that the agency’s actions earlier in the week were part of a targeted attempt to damage Bello’s reputation, warning that they would not stand idly by and watch his safety be jeopardized.
“We stand with our leader, Yahaya Bello in this trying time. We believe he has been targeted unfairly and we demand justice. We won’t watch him lose his life,” one of the protesters, identified as Hajiya Halima Abass, said.
“The EFCC should focus on genuine cases of corruption, not political vendetta,” another protester, who simply identified herself as Mrs. Boluwaji, added.
The various women group leaders, who spoke in their local dialects – Igala, Ebira, Yoruba and others – urged the EFCC to be professional in its “handling of the case against the state leader, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.”
They chanted songs, saying that Kogi people were fearless people and reiterated that they would not stand by and continue watching what they called a show of shame, especially after the former governor had made himself available to EFCC.
They wondered why the EFCC refused to interrogate or detain him while he was in their office but rather went shooting at night at the Kogi Government Lodge to arrest a man who had voluntarily walked up to them earlier in the day.
“We Kogi people of Ebira descent cherish what our son, Yahaya Bello, did for us as governor. That is why we’re out on the streets to ask EFCC to leave him alone.
“We are not giving him out to anyone to crucify. He will come back to us hale and hearty,” one of the women leaders from Ebiraland, who simply identified herself as Hajiya Fatima, said.
“We, the Igala people from Kogi East, we are here because of our leader, Alhaji Yahaya Bello. He has never done anything bad to us. To those people that are looking to take him, please leave him alone. We have never seen the kind of his government before. He did well for the state,” another women leader who identified herself as Deborah said.
