A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted permission to a former governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the 2026 lesser Hajj.
Justice Emeka Nwite, on Thursday, ordered the temporary release of Bello’s international passport, which had been in the custody of the court, to enable him to undertake the religious pilgrimage.
Bello is currently standing trial before the court over alleged misappropriation of funds in a case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC is prosecuting the former governor on charges of alleged money laundering amounting to N80.2 billion, allegations he denied when he was arraigned.
In an application dated January 20 and supported by a 24-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Bello himself, the former governor sought the court’s permission to travel to Saudi Arabia for supplication.
Moving the application, Bello’s lead counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, told the court that the request was to enable his client travel to the Holy Land during the month of Ramadan to observe the lesser Hajj. Daudu added that Bello had not visited the Holy Land in over eight years and needed the trip to pray for divine intervention in the charges brought against him by the EFCC.
Responding, the lead prosecution counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, said the prosecution would not oppose the application but stressed that it would not concede any of the trial dates already fixed by the court.
In a brief ruling, Justice Nwite granted the application for the release of Bello’s international passport, which had been deposited with the court’s Registrar.
“I have listened to the submissions of counsel in this matter and am minded to grant the application,” the judge said.
Consequently, the court approved the release of the passport from March 13, 2026, for a period of 10 days, and adjourned proceedings until Friday, January 30, for the continuation of the examination of the seventh prosecution witness.
Earlier in his testimony, the seventh prosecution witness (PW7), Olomotane Egoro, a subpoenaed official of Access Bank, told the court that cash inflows from local government areas of Kogi State were paid into the accounts of Fazab Business Enterprise and E-Traders International Ltd. He also disclosed that several cash withdrawals were subsequently made from the accounts.
