The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned the leader of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Bodejo, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over an alleged $2.33 million money laundering case.
The EFCC said on its X account on Thursday that Bodejo appeared before Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo on a 12-count charge over alleged breaches of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
Bodejo pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
After the plea, the prosecution lawyer, Wahab Shittu (SAN), asked the court to fix a trial date and remand the defendant in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
But the defence lawyer, Ahmed Raji (SAN), asked the court to grant Bodejo bail based on an application filed on June 30, 2026.
The prosecution opposed the request, arguing that Bodejo could flee and interfere with the case.
Shittu told the court that the Department of State Services was “on the watch out for him” and added that, “being an influential person, he may manipulate the witnesses and progress of the case.”
Justice Ekwo then ordered that Bodejo be kept in the EFCC’s holding facility and adjourned the case until July 20 for a ruling on the bail application.
The EFCC said one of the charges accused Bodejo of receiving $100,000 in cash from a former Bauchi State Accountant-General, Sa’idu Abubakar, without passing the money through a financial institution as required by law.
The charge reads in part, “That you, Bello Abdullahi Bodejo… did knowingly and wilfully, without lawful authority or excuse, accept a cash payment of the sum of One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (USD $100,000.00)… without routing the said transaction through a financial institution as required by law.”
Another charge alleged that Bodejo received $980,000 in cash from the same individual in February 2024, also against the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
It reads, “That you… did knowingly and wilfully, without lawful authority or excuse, accept a cash payment of the sum of Nine Hundred and Eighty Thousand United States Dollars (USD $980,000.00)… without routing the said transaction through a financial institution as required by law.”
The EFCC said the total amount involved in the charges is about $2.33 million.
