Suleiman Ishola, a former Accountant-General of Kwara State, has told a High Court in Ilorin that neither former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed nor his then Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, personally received or authorised the disbursement of funds involved in the alleged diversion of N5.78 billion UBEC grants.
Testifying as the sixth prosecution witness in the ongoing trial, Ishola stated that the controversial N1 billion matching grant from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) was borrowed in 2015 to pay salaries and pensions, with all necessary approvals coming from the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
At the resumed hearing, presided over by Mahmud Abdulgafar (Justice), the prosecution led by Rotimi Jacobs, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, called two witnesses, the sixth and seventh in the matter against the former officials.
Ishola, who served as the Accountant-General of Kwara State from 2013 to 2019, testified that the funds were used by the administration of Governor Ahmed to pay salaries and pensions during that year.
According to Ishola, the vouchers facilitating the loan were raised by officials of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), and neither of the two defendants personally authorized the transaction or received any part of the funds.
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His testimony aligned with that of Lanre Daibu, a former SUBEB chairman, who had earlier confirmed that the board received proper approval from the state government to access the UBEC grant for the payment of civil servants.
The seventh witness, Stanley Ujilibo, an Assistant Commander and investigator with the Commission, recounted the origin of the investigation, stating that it began following a petition dated April 17, 2024, sent by Akande Idowu Ayoola, the Director of Public Prosecution in Kwara State, on behalf of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
The petition alleged that UBEC funds intended for infrastructure development across the state’s 16 local government areas had been diverted.
As part of the probe, the EFCC contacted UBEC and requested documentation and staff to assist in the investigation.
In response, Hassan Abubakar, an Assistant Director at UBEC, provided action plans for the 2013 to 2015 fiscal years, including names of contractors and cost breakdowns of projects.
Ujilibo explained that UBEC grants require a 50 percent counterpart funding from states and that all project proposals must first be defended before the commission’s technical committee prior to fund disbursement.
During the course of the investigation, according to a statement by the EFCC, several former state officials were interviewed, 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 individuals reportedly provided voluntary statements.
The EFCC investigator also disclosed that financial records from Polaris Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank were retrieved to trace the flow of funds through SUBEB accounts.
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Ujilibo further confirmed that both Ahmed and Banu were invited by the Commission and made statements in the presence of their legal representatives, with no complaints of coercion.
Their statements were admitted as evidence by the court, with no objections raised by the defence.
Justice Abdulgafar adjourned further hearing to October 16 and 17, 2025.
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