Writing By Ali Muhammad Rabiu, Editing By Godwin Duru
Kwara state High Court presided over by Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar has fixed October 16 and 17th for continuation of hearing in alleged N5.78billion naira fraud suit instituted by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,
against immediate past governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu.
At the resumed hearing of the case, the sixth prosecution witness Suleiman Ishola, told Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin that the vouchers to borrow N1billion (One Billion Naira Only) were allegedly raised by SUBEB officials.
Suleiman 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 been 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.
Led in evidence by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN)
the seventh prosecution witness (PW7), Stanley Ujilibo, an Assistant Commander of the EFCC, who was part of the investigation team 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 sixteen local government areas of the state.
He said to aid the investigation, 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 testified that both defendants were invited and they volunteered statements in the presence of their lawyers, without any form of coercion.
COV/ALI MUHAMMAD RABIU
