The trial of former Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, over the alleged diversion of ₦5.78 billion belonging to the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has been adjourned until November 9, 2026, following the absence of the prosecution’s next witness.
The defendants are being prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin, on charges bordering on the alleged diversion of SUBEB intervention funds.
At the resumed hearing on Monday, the sixth prosecution witness (PW6), Stanley Ujilibo, an operative of the EFCC, concluded his cross-examination by counsel to both defendants.
During the proceedings, Ujilibo maintained that the 2013, 2014 and 2015 SUBEB intervention projects were exclusively the responsibility of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board and were to be implemented under the supervision of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), in accordance with the approved action plans.
According to him, the projects were not projects of the Kwara State Government, a distinction that remains central to the prosecution’s case.
The EFCC investigator also disclosed that the petition which triggered the investigation originated from the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr Ayoola Idowu.
When asked whether the former DPP personally benefited from the alleged ₦1 billion loan obtained from the SUBEB counterpart fund, the witness said he could not confirm whether Idowu received any benefit, explaining that the former DPP was merely a civil servant at the relevant time.
Responding to questions from counsel to the second defendant, Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), Ujilibo acknowledged that Ademola Banu, as Commissioner for Finance, was neither a member of the SUBEB Board nor a signatory to the Board’s bank accounts.
However, he maintained that Banu signed documents requesting the release of SUBEB funds as well as the request seeking the controversial ₦1 billion loan from the SUBEB counterpart fund. According to the witness, those documents have already been admitted in evidence before the court.
The witness had earlier testified that former Governor Ahmed approved the request for the ₦1 billion loan after receiving a recommendation from the then Commissioner for Finance to utilise the SUBEB counterpart fund to pay workers’ salaries. The EFCC alleges that the approval violated the statutory purpose for which the intervention funds were established.
Following the conclusion of PW6’s testimony, prosecution counsel, Adebisi Adeniyi, appearing from the chambers of Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), informed the court that the next prosecution witness, a banker, was unavailable because he was giving evidence in another court.
The prosecution consequently applied for an adjournment, which was not opposed by the defence.
Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar subsequently discharged PW6 and adjourned the matter until November 9, 2026, for the continuation of trial.
The case remains one of the EFCC’s high-profile prosecutions involving the alleged misuse of education intervention funds. The Commission alleges that billions of naira earmarked for basic education projects in Kwara State were unlawfully diverted, an allegation the defendants have consistently denied.