Bench Warrant: EFCC Provided Misleading Information, Demola Banu Didn’t Jump Bail- Kwara PDP

 Kwara state PDP on Wednesday accused the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of  raising false allegations against Hon Demola Banu , a former Commissioner for Finance in the state, this, the party noted, had made the Federal High Court, Ilorin issue a bench warrant for his arrest.

 The party noted that the latest round of persecution in the State of Harmony was shown in the charges prepared against former governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, and Hon. Ademola Banu, which it alleged ‘were deliberately orchestrated to silence the voice of the opposition in the State of Harmony’.

In a statement issued in Ilorin on Wednesday and made available to Team@orientactualmags.com by its State Publicity Secretary,  Hon Olusegun Olusola Adewara, Kwara  state PDP said the  EFCC deliberately misled the court when it accused Hon Demola Banu of jumping administrative bail and consequently demanded that a bench warrant should be issued for his arrest.

The party emphasized that at no point in time did Hon Banu refuse to honour any invitation from the EFCC  and submitted that there was no need for issuing a bench of warrant for his arrest.

‘Actually, the anti-graft agency did not extend any invitation to Hon. Banu’ the party said.

‘Kwarans would recall that in 2019, Hon. Ademola Banu was taken to court by the EFCC while those who were then in charge of the anti-graft agency later realized that it was a wrong action, and they voluntarily discontinued  the case on 18th November 2020

We make bold to state that since November 2020, Hon. Ademola Banu had never been invited by the EFCC in respect of any matter whatsoever, and surprisingly, media reports claimed on Friday,  February 23, 2024 that Hon. Ademola Banu jumped EFCC’s administrative bail and subsequently had a bench warrant issued for his arrest’ the party added.

Kwara PDP has also asserted that the former Finance Commissioner has no reason to jump bail.

‘We want to put it on record that it is untrue and unfounded that Hon. Ademola Banu jumped bail because since his discharge by the Court in 2020, he has never received any invitation from the EFCC and some party elders had asked him to take a legal action before we urged patience and that is why we have taken it upon ourselves to explain to the good people of Kwara that the allegations of jumping bail is not only untrue but a deliberate promotion of falsehood.

The question a discerning mind should ask is; why will Hon Banu jump bail? He had been detained and taken to Court by the EFCC four years ago.

We would therefore like to assert as a party that Hon Banu, a prominent member of our party, and an illustrious son of Kwara state, did not jump bail and he had no reason to do so. Actually, it would amount to self-abasement of the worst kind for him to do such a thing. 

Hon Banu did not jump bail as alleged.

Secondly, we noticed that the charges filed against former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and Hon Ademola Banu are virtually the same charges the EFCC had in 2020, declared to be baseless, and unfounded which led to the discharge of Hon. Ademola Banu in year 2020, in our estimation as a party, it is utterly laughable to allege that two individuals diverted Kwara state resources for merely performing their Constitutional responsibilities and duties. 

It should be noted that Alhaji Abdulfatah as the then Executive Governor of Kwara state had unfettered powers to run the state according to the laid down laws and guidelines which he did. 

 Hon. Ademola Banu as the then Commissioner for Finance did not also act outside the budget of the Kwara state Government as approved by the Kwara state House of Assembly. From Hon. Banu’s antecedents, all financial transactions of the Kwara state Government during his time as  Commissioner were not contrary to financial guidelines of the state where inputs were taken from different departments of the Ministry of Finance, the Permanent Secretary, the Office of the Accountant General of the State, the Treasury arm of the State, the State House of Assembly and others, before any fund was released based on the approval of the governor.

Importantly, the EFCC has failed to bring forth any concrete or credible material fact or evidence to nail Hon. Banu which led to the earlier withdrawal of the charges against him in 2020 and it is worrisome that these same charges have now been refiled against Hon. Banu and Alhaji Abdulfatah.

Our party has documents of the vital resolutions of the Kwara state House of Assembly, budgetary allocations of the Kwara state Government under former  governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, memos for drawing finances, approvals for actions on memos for finances among others and we will be making them available to media Houses on request.

It should be noted that during Banu’s unjust ordeal in the hands of the EFCC, the former Finance Commissioner honoured EFCC’s invitation over ten (10) times and was unjustly detained on numerous occasions and as a party, we would, this time around, not look the other way whilst the EFCC apparatus is deployed to further harass and victimize any of our members in Kwara state as we would definitely be forced to take legal actions specifically against individuals and named operatives of EFCC who are being used to unjustly torment our members, subject them to psychological traumas and smear their good image before the public’ the statement added.

The party  has also called on  President Bola Tinubu and  the National Assembly leaders to caution those in charge of the  Ilorin zonal  command of the EFCC and stop them from being allegedly used to intimidate  opposition members in the state—-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. Thank you