Ahmed Abubakar, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told a federal high court in Abuja that funds from the Kogi state government house administration account were allegedly diverted to purchase luxury properties in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Abubakar testified on Monday before James Omotosho, the presiding judge, as prosecution witness 17 in the trial of Ali Bello, chief of staff to Kogi governor Usman Ododo and nephew of former governor Yahaya Bello.
The EFCC is prosecuting Bello alongside Dauda Sulaiman on a 16-count amended charge bordering on misappropriation and money laundering of N10.27 billion. A third defendant, Abdulsalami Hudu, a former cashier at the Kogi government house, is currently at large.
Abubakar said Bello allegedly used N900 million to acquire a property at No. 35 Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja, known as Spring Hall School.
According to the witness, officials withdrew the funds from the Kogi government house account and handed them to a bureau de change operator, Rabiu Tafada, for conversion to foreign currency.
“The payment was made in cash at a bureau de change office in Zone 4, Abuja, after conversion to dollars,” Abubakar told the court, adding that a lawyer, Ramalan, brokered the transaction.
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He identified exhibit H as the deed of assignment between Pauchi Ventures Nigeria Limited and Y3 Nigeria Limited.
On another count, Abubakar said Bello used N920 million to acquire a property at No. 2 Justice Chukwudi (Oguta) Street, Asokoro. He told the court that Yahaya Bello brokered the deal through a contractor linked to Wastle Motors, owned by Sa’id Dantsoho.
The witness said the parties structured the payment “in kind,” with loan repayments serviced through cash deposits made in Lokoja and transfers from Tafada’s bureau de change company, Busynet.
He said the loan facility stood at N808.7 million as of March 21, 2018, and that several cash deposits were made at Access Bank’s Lokoja branch on April 8, 2020, using funds traced to the government house account.
Abubakar also told the court that investigators traced N170 million to the purchase of a property on Marsin Street, Wuse Zone 4—N100 million paid directly to the seller and N70 million converted to US dollars.
He added that investigators linked additional purchases at Guzape Street, Lome Street in Wuse, and Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse II, to withdrawals from the same Kogi government account, stressing that none of the payments were made on behalf of the state government.
The judge adjourned the trial to February 16–20, 2026, for continuation.
