The trial of former Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, over the alleged diversion of ₦5.78 billion belonging to the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), resumed on Monday with the continuation of the cross-examination of the sixth prosecution witness.
Ahmed and Banu are being prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin on charges bordering on the alleged diversion of SUBEB funds.
The witness, EFCC operative Stanley Ujilibo, had told the court at the previous hearing on 17 June that Ahmed approved a request to obtain a ₦1 billion loan from the state’s SUBEB counterpart fund to pay workers’ salaries.
According to Ujilibo, the approval followed a request by the then Commissioner for Finance, Banu, and was contrary to the statutory purpose for which the SUBEB funds were released.
Under further cross-examination by counsel to the first defendant, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), Ujilibo maintained that the 2013, 2014 and 2015 SUBEB intervention projects were to be executed solely by the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board under the supervision of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), in line with the approved action plan.
He stressed that the projects were not initiatives of the Kwara State Government.
The witness also disclosed that the petition which led to the investigation and subsequent prosecution originated from the then Director of Public Prosecutions, Ayoola Idowu.
Asked whether Idowu was among those who benefited from the ₦1 billion allegedly borrowed from the SUBEB fund, Ujilibo said he could not confirm whether the former DPP received any of the money, noting that he was a civil servant at the time.
Responding to questions from counsel to the second defendant, Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), Ujilibo confirmed that although Banu was neither a member of the SUBEB board nor a signatory to its bank accounts, he signed documents requesting the release of funds to SUBEB and documents seeking the ₦1 billion loan from the board’s funds.
He added that the documents had already been tendered in evidence before the court.
Following the conclusion of the witness’s cross-examination, prosecution counsel Adebisi Adeniyi, from the chambers of Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), informed the court that the next prosecution witness, a banker, was unavailable because he was testifying in another court.
He therefore sought an adjournment, which was granted without objection from the defence.
Justice Abdulgafar subsequently discharged the sixth prosecution witness and adjourned the case until 9 November for the continuation of the trial.
