Former kwara Governor fraud trial

 Court fixes date for former Kwara Governor’s N5.78bn fraud trial



Kwara state High Court, Presided over by Justice Mahmud has fixed March 12 and 13 for continuation of trial of the former governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed and his former Commissioner for Finance, Demola Banu, over alleged diversion of N5.78 billion naira State Universal Basic Education Fund .

Led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), the prosecution witness, Mr Hassan, Assistant Director Finance, Universal Basic Education Commission(UBEC), Abuja, said “the duo are not signatories to the account of SUBEB and cannot be allegedly liable for the missing of the fund”.

The Ilorin zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had dragged the duo before a Kwara state High Court over alleged misappropriation of UBEC’s matching grants of N5.78 billion between 2013 and 2019.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Cross-examined by Counsels to the former governor, Kamaldeen Ajibade(SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole(SAN), the EFCC’s witness, Mr Hassan, told the court that “SUBEB is an autonomous agency, with a separate board having executive chairman as its head”.

The EFCC witness said, “States SUBEB have distinct and separate account from the state government’s. The governor is not allowed to be a member of SUBEB board.

“Ex-governor Ahmed was not a member of SUBEB; neither was he a signatory to the account. UBEC usually pays matching grants to states SUBEB accounts.”

The witness also revealed that through letter to SUBEB’s banks, it eventually retrieved its matching grants of over N1.8 billion meant for 2013 and 2014 for illegal withdrawal and refusal of the board to pay its counterpart funds.

He also testified that a total of 51 projects approved under the 2013 action plan were abandoned due to lack of funds.

According to Mr Hassan, the UBEC project monitoring committee discovered that despite the approval for these projects, the state government, under the leadership of the erstwhile governor, mismanaged the funds.

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