The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025 presented more
witnesses to prove a case of alleged N5,78billion involving the immediate past
Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his former Commissioner for
Finance, Ademola Banu.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Tuesday,
the sixth prosecution told Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara
State High Court sitting in Ilorin that the vouchers to borrow N1billion (One
Billion Naira Only) were raised by SUBEB officials.
The witness, Suleiman Oluwadare Ishola, who served as
the Accountant-General of Kwara State between 2013 - 2019 had in his testimony
on Friday, April 11, 2025, told the court that, the sum of N1billion being
a matching grant from UBEC was borrowed by the Abdulfatah administration in
2015 to pay salaries of civil servants and pensioners.
Ishola maintained that neither of the defendants
authorized the vouchers or received any direct payments from the borrowed
funds.
His testimony corroborated the earlier testimony
by Barrister Lanre Daibu, former SUBEB Chairman, who also confirmed
receiving formal approval from the state government to access the UBEC matching
grant for salary payments.
Following cross-examination by defence
counsel, J.A. Mumini (SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole (SAN),
representing Ahmed and Banu respectively, Ishola was discharged from the
witness box.
The prosecution then called its seventh witness
(PW7), Stanley Ujilibo, an Assistant Commander of the EFCC, who was
part of the investigation team.
Led in evidence by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Ujilibo
narrated the sequence of events leading to the defendants’ prosecution. He told
the court that the EFCC received a petition dated April 17, 2024, signed
by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Kwara State, Akande
Idowu Ayoola, on behalf of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
The petition alleged diversion of UBEC funds allocated for educational
infrastructure across the state’s 16 local government areas.
To aid the investigation, the witness said that the
EFCC wrote to UBEC requesting relevant documents and nominated personnel. In
response, Hassan Abubakar, an Assistant Director at UBEC,
provided action plans for the 2013–2015 fiscal years, detailing
contractors’ names and project costs.
Ujilibo explained that states are required to pay a
50% counterpart contribution to access UBEC matching grants, and that project
proposals must be defended before a UBEC committee before release of funds.
He added that the EFCC invited several key officials,
including Lanre Daibu, SUBEB Director of Physical Planning, Engr.
Abdulsalam Olarewaju, former SUBEB Permanent Secretary, Dr. Musa
Dasuki, Accountant-General Ishola, and the then Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Finance, Mr. Benjamin Fatigun, all of whom made voluntary
statements.
The witness said the EFCC also obtained financial
records from Polaris Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank, which handled
SUBEB accounts, to trace the flow and application of UBEC funds.
Ujilibo testified that both defendants were invited
and they volunteered statements in the presence of their lawyers,
without any form of coercion. The court admitted their extra-judicial
statements as exhibits, as there was no objection from the defence.
Further hearing has been adjourned to October 16 and
17, 2025.
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