EFCC vs Yahaya Bello: Father Left Stunned by 6-Year-Old Daughter’s Probing Questions

By Ikechukwu Emeka Onyia

The EFCC’s quest to arrest the former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, and his subsequent evasion from arrest or invitation over allegations of corruption has been major news in Nigeria since this month, April 2024.

Newspapers, television, and other news platforms have been reporting on the EFCC vs. Bello issues.

Here comes a conversation between a father and his 6-year-old daughter over the incident as the father turns on his television while watching with the daughter in their living room.

News from TV: EFCC declares Yahaya Bello wanted, urges the general public to report his whereabouts to the nearest police station for his arrest.

Chimamanda: Dad, the man cannot run anywhere. The police will arrest him.

Dad: Yes. You can’t run away from the law in any society. That’s why you must do the right thing at any given time.

Chimamanda: Yes, Dad. I will continue to do a good thing so that the police will not arrest me.

Dad: That’s good.

Chimamanda: But he should not be running. My teacher said that police can arrest you anywhere once you commit a crime or do any bad thing. She said that you cannot hide from the government once you do a bad thing.

Dad: Your teacher is right.

Chimamanda: Dad, you see why I will continue to do good things.

Dad: That’s good, my princess.

Chimamanda: Dad, I have to send this man’s picture to Ella, Chibuike, and all my friends in Nigeria so that if they see the man, they will report to their teacher so that their teachers will call the police. My teacher said that we must help the government at any time.

Dad: Yes.

News Flash: Police withdraws police officers from Yahaya Bello over EFCC issues.

Chimamanda: Dad, look at that.

Dad: What?

Chimamanda: The police did not arrest that man. They are running away from him.

Dad: What do you mean?

Chimamanda: That man that the government asked the people to report to the police for him to be arrested.

(Dad trying to claim that he did not see the news flash about the police’s withdrawal of their officers from wanted Bello)

Dad: What happened to him?

Chimamanda: The police did not arrest him. They said that police people that are with the man should leave and come back.

Dad: You may not understand.

Chimamanda: Make me understand, Dad. So the man has police people with him, but why didn’t they arrest him?

Dad: Eemmm eemm (stammering)

(The daughter continued with her inquiry)

Chimamanda: The government said that they are looking for him, and I said that I will use Mummy’s phone to send his pictures to all my sisters and brothers in Nigeria and my friends too so that they will be looking for him.

Dad: It is ok, Chimamanda.

Chimamanda: Does the man have police? Why did the police not arrest him? Why did they withdraw from him instead of arresting him?

Dad: Did they?

Chimamanda: Dad, did you not watch or read what the police said?

Dad: I did.

Chimamanda: Is the government afraid of that man? Or is the police afraid of him?

Dad: The government is not afraid of him.

Chimamanda: So why did the police not arrest him? I won’t help the government again. Dad, I won’t be sending his pictures to my sisters and brothers, not even my friends, to help.

But Dad… (The dad interrupted her as she wanted to say something more)

Dad: Chimamanda, go inside and get me your class assignment so that we can do it together.

Chimamanda: Ok, Dad.

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How can the father clarify to his daughter the government’s inability to apprehend Yahaya Bello?

How will the father articulate to his daughter the situation where the government, having solicited the public’s assistance in reporting Yahaya Bello’s whereabouts to facilitate his arrest, finds itself in a paradox where Bello is both surrounded by officially assigned policemen and yet these very officers are instructed to disengage from him without proceeding with his arrest, all while the government appeals to the public for help in capturing him?

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