Atlantic Post

EFCC Arraigns Miyetti Allah Leader Bodejo Over Alleged $2.33m Fraud

With his plea of not guilty entered and bail fiercely contested, Bello Bodejo’s arraignment has thrust one of the country’s most politically sensitive names into an Abuja courtroom battle over alleged $2.33 million cash transactions, setting the stage for a case loaded with legal, security and political implications.

Atlantic Post

July 9, 2026

2–3 minutes

Bello Bodejo, Breaking News, EFCC, Federal High Court Abuja, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Money Laundering, Wahab Shittu

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, July 9, 2026, arraigned the leader of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Bodejo, before Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged fraud and money laundering involving $2.33 million.

Bodejo was brought before the court on a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering. At Thursday’s proceedings, prosecution counsel Wahab Shittu, SAN, drew the court’s attention to the charge, dated June 24, 2026, and filed on June 25, 2026, and urged the judge to allow the defendant take his plea. The request was granted.

According to the EFCC’s charge, Count One alleged that Bodejo, “on or about the 11th day of January 2022, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, 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) in physical currency from one Sa’idu Abubakar, a former Accountant-General of Bauchi State who is currently in the lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force…”

The charge further stated that the amount exceeded the statutory cash transaction threshold of N5 million and that the transaction was not routed through a financial institution, contrary to the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, as amended.

Count Four, as read in court, alleged that Bodejo, “on or about the 7th day of February 2024, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, 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) in physical currency from one Sa’idu Abubakar, a former Accountant-General of Bauchi State…”

The prosecution said the sum also exceeded the statutory threshold and was allegedly received outside a financial institution, contrary to the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Bodejo pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Following the plea, Shittu asked the court for a trial date and requested that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service.

However, defence counsel Ahmed Raji, SAN, urged the court to grant his client bail, relying on a bail application filed on June 30, 2026.

The bail bid was strongly opposed by the prosecution. Shittu told the court that he had filed a 28-paragraph counter-affidavit dated July 6, 2026, arguing that the defendant posed a public risk. He also said the Department of State Security Services, DSS, was watching Bodejo, and that, as an influential figure, he might interfere with witnesses and the progress of the case.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Ekwo ordered that the defendant be remanded in the EFCC’s holding facility and adjourned the case until July 20, 2026, for ruling on the bail application.