Prosecution Witness Says Ex-Gov Ahmed, Banu Can’t Be Held ‘Liable’ As Judge Adjourns Fraud Case Until March 12
A prosecution witness, Mr. Abubakar Hassan on Tuesday immune former governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed and former Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Demola Banu from blame in respect of the alleged diversion of the SUBEB funds on their watch submitting that they cannot be held liable for the alleged missing fund cognizant that they were never signatories to the bank account of SUBEB.
Recall that the former governor and Hon Demola Banu, who served as Commissioner for Finance during his administration, were among other things accused of conspiring to convert to personal use, funds meant for the payment of salary to teachers under the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, UBEC, as well as the funds meant for enhancing security of lives and property and provision of infrastructure projects for the people of the state.
Recall also that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) , had in February last year filed charges against the former governor and the former Commissioner for Finance over offences bordering on alleged money laundering.
A definitive decision had not been taken on this at the Federal High Court, Ilorin before the anti-graft agency discontinued the case and got them re-arraigned in October last year while opting for the state High Court.
Alhaji Ahmed and Hon Banu had however pleaded not guilty to charges contained in the charging document while Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar, who presided over the court session, later set the former governor’s bail at N 100 million ditto the former commissioner while adding that one of their sureties must also be a serving or retired Permanent Secretary.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned that the former governor and Hon Banu returned to court on Monday and the prosecution witness, PW1, Abubakar Hassan, an Assistant Director of finance, Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, who testified against the defendants, while being led in evidence by counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, Hassan told the court that ‘SUBEB is an autonomous agency, with separate board having an executive chairman as its head’.
Counsels for Ahmed and Banu; Kamaldeen Ajibade(SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole(SAN) respectively took turns to cross-examine the witness.
Hassan said, ‘States SUBEB have distinct and separate bank account from that of the state government. The governor is not allowed to be a member of SUBEB board.
Ex-governor Ahmed was not a member of SUBEB board. Neither was he a signatory to the bank account. UBEC usually pays matching grants to states SUBEB accounts.
UBEC receives education action plan from states and approves same to the board. SUBEB is an independent agency under the UBEC Act. SUBEB payment is not for the state government.
It is the duty of SUBEB to receive grants and disburse the same on its own according to the law’.
The prosecution witness also disclosed that through the letters sent to SUBEB’s banks, the agency 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.
During Monday’s court session, Hassan, while being led in evidence by counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) submitted that a total of 51 projects approved under the 2013 action plan were abandoned due to lack of funds.
The UBEC project monitoring committee according to him discovered that, despite the approvals gotten for these projects, the state government under Alhaji Ahmed’s leadership mismanaged the funds.
‘The project monitoring committee conducted investigations and found out that many projects were either unexecuted or abandoned.
We wrote to the then Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, in May 2018 to address these issues, but we got no response’ Hassan stated.
He further explained that the abandoned projects were in the 16 local governments in the state adding that on January 6, 2015, N1 billion was taken from the 2013 UBEC matching grant Account with Skye Bank Plc to pay staff salaries and pensions.
Commenting on the utilization of the 2014 and 2015 State Counterpart Funds, Hassan said the Kwara SUBEB had illegally withdrawn N1,829,054,054.06 from funds lodged on February 18, 2016.
These funds, he added, had qualified the state to access the Federal Government’s UBEC Matching Grants.
Hassan further submitted that UBEC had sent a letter of invitation requesting documentary evidence regarding the Kwara State Government’s use of funds.
‘We submitted documents showing the lodgment of funds to the Kwara SUBEB. The projects were categorized into three: early care education, primary school education, and junior secondary school education’ he explained.
He also disclosed that UBEC had written to the first defendant (Abdulfatah Ahmed) in May 2018, drawing his attention to the alleged mismanagement of education funds but however got no response from the state government.
‘State matching grants are not permitted to be borrowed or utilized for any purpose outside the approved action plan.
The objectives of UBEC were undermined due to these infractions and the failure to implement the action plan’ Hassan said.
Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar , who presided over the court session, later adjourned the case until March 12 and 13, 2025, for continuation of hearing-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
