Barr. Lanre Daibu, a witness in the ongoing N5.78bn alleged fraud trial of a former governor of Kwara State, Alh. Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his Finance Commissioner, Engr. Ademola Banu, on Thursday, told Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin that Banu directed the release of the sum of N1bn from the 2013 matching grant fund of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for the purpose of payments of salaries for teachers and pensioners in the state in January 2015.
Daibu, a former chairman of Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), while being led in evidence as the fourth prosecution witness (PW4) by counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said: “My Lord, the Second defendant, Banu called me on phone that the State Government needed money to pay salaries of her workforce and pensioners. The board sat on the issue and concluded that such request must be in writing and not on telephone conversation. I, therefore, called the Honourable Commissioner to put it into writing
“The reason we insisted that such request should be in writing was to ensure that we get commitment from the State Government as to when they are going to pay back the loan. In the letter signed on behalf of the second defendant (Banu), they promised to pay back in a month or two. However, they did not refund the loan until the board was dissolved,” Daibu said.
Answering further questions from the prosecution counsel, the former SUBEB chairman said the content of exhibit 4 which is the letter which emanated from the Ministry of Finance indicated that the then state governor gave approval for the loan to be granted.
He said: “I was reluctant to grant the request because I was fully aware that the State Government had no right to borrow or spend UBEC Matching Grant meant to be used for the purposes stated in the Action Plan.”
Daibu also told the judge that he could not finish his tenure as chairman of SUBEB as the board was dissolved before their tenure elapsed. He added that the loan was not paid back while he was serving as the chairman.
Answering questions from 1st and 2nd defendant’s counsel, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), respectively, the witness said: “the Permanent Secretary and Director of Administration and Human Resources were the signatories to SUBEB’s account. Both the first and second defendants were not signatories to their accounts”
Thereafter, the 5th prosecution witness, Benjamin Sehinde Fatigun, a retired Permanent Secretary of the Kwara State Ministry of Finance, stepped into the witness box to testify.
According to Fatigun, “there was an approval from the then Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed that State Universal Basic Education Board should borrow the Kwara State Government the sum of N1billion to augment the payment for civil servants and retirees. I got the approval from the Honourable Commissioner for Finance, who is the second defendant, and the fund was transferred to the state’s salary account.”
Under cross-examination, Fatigun told the court that the State Government had a problem with the payment of salaries and then wrote a letter to the governor to inform him of the development at the time.
“My Lord, a letter emanated from the Ministry of Finance to the office of the Executive Governor of the State that we have challenges of paying salaries and SUBEB was suggested as a way out and I explained in my statements I made with EFCC how the sum of N1billion was released,” Fatigun said.
The case was adjourned to April 11, 2025, for further hearing.
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