The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday arraigned the President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Bodejo, before Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja over an alleged $2.33 million money laundering scheme.
Bodejo was arraigned on a 12-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering.
At the commencement of proceedings, prosecution counsel, Wahab Shittu, informed the court of the 12-count charge dated June 24, 2026, and filed on June 25, 2026, and urged the court to allow the defendant to take his plea. The application was granted.
Bodejo pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Following his plea, Shittu asked the court to fix a trial date and order that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service pending trial.
Counsel for the defendant, Ahmed Raji, however, urged the court to admit his client to bail, relying on a bail application filed on June 30, 2026.
The prosecution opposed the application, drawing the court’s attention to a counter-affidavit. Shittu argued that Bodejo posed a flight risk, claiming that the Department of State Services (DSS) was looking for him and that, given his influence, he could interfere with witnesses and obstruct the trial.
In his ruling, Justice Ekwo ordered that Bodejo be remanded in the EFCC’s holding facility pending the determination of his bail application.
The judge adjourned the matter until July 20, 2026, for a ruling on the bail application.
According to the EFCC, count one alleges that on January 11, 2022, Bodejo knowingly accepted $100,000 in cash from Sa’idu Abubakar, a former Accountant-General of Bauchi State who is currently in the custody of the Nigeria Police Force. The commission alleged that the transaction exceeded the statutory cash transaction threshold under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and was conducted outside a financial institution, contrary to the provisions of the law.
In count four, the anti-graft agency alleged that on February 7, 2024, Bodejo accepted another cash payment of $980,000 from Abubakar without routing the transaction through a financial institution, contrary to the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022. The EFCC alleged that the transaction also exceeded the statutory threshold for cash payments and constituted an offence under the Act.
