EFCC Investigator Gives Key Testimony
More Witnesses Testify in N5.78bn Fraud Trial Against Ex-Kwara Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed
Ilorin, Nigeria – July 23, 2025 | Newsheadline247
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday presented additional witnesses in the ongoing N5.78 billion fraud case against former Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu.
At the resumed hearing before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin, the prosecution’s sixth witness, Suleiman Oluwadare Ishola, shed more light on the alleged diversion of public funds.
Ishola, who served as Accountant-General of Kwara State from 2013 to 2019, told the court that the sum of N1 billion, which was a UBEC matching grant, was borrowed in 2015 by the Ahmed administration to pay civil servants and pensioners.
“The vouchers to borrow the N1 billion were raised by SUBEB officials,” Ishola testified, adding that neither Ahmed nor Banu authorized the vouchers or received any direct payment from the borrowed funds.
His testimony supported the earlier statement of Barrister Lanre Daibu, a former Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), who had confirmed that formal approval was granted by the state government to access the UBEC funds for salary payment.
Under cross-examination by defense counsels J.A. Mumini (SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), representing Ahmed and Banu respectively, Ishola reiterated that the funds were applied to salary obligations. He was later discharged from the witness stand.
The prosecution then called its seventh witness (PW7), Stanley Ujilibo, an Assistant Commander with the EFCC and member of the investigative team.
Led in evidence by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Ujilibo detailed the timeline and investigative steps taken in the case. According to him, the anti-graft agency received a petition dated April 17, 2024, from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Kwara State, Akande Idowu Ayoola, on behalf of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
The petition alleged the diversion of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds meant for infrastructural development in public schools across all 16 local government areas of the state.
Ujilibo testified that:
- The EFCC wrote to UBEC, which responded through Hassan Abubakar, an Assistant Director, providing action plans, contractor names, and project costs for the 2013–2015 fiscal years.
- States must provide a 50% counterpart contribution to access UBEC grants, and all projects must be defended before a UBEC committee prior to fund release.
- The EFCC obtained financial records from Polaris Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank, where SUBEB accounts were domiciled, to trace the flow and usage of the funds.
He also said key figures in the case—including Lanre Daibu, Engr. Abdulsalam Olarewaju (SUBEB Director of Physical Planning), Dr. Musa Dasuki (former SUBEB Permanent Secretary), Accountant-General Ishola, and Mr. Benjamin Fatigun (then Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance)—were invited and all gave voluntary statements.
“Both defendants were also invited and volunteered their statements in the presence of their lawyers, without coercion,” Ujilibo said.
The court admitted the extra-judicial statements of the defendants into evidence, as the defense raised no objection.
The matter was adjourned to October 16 and 17, 2025, for the continuation of hearing. Read More
