The Kwara State High Court presided over by Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar in Ilorin has fixed December 3, 2024 for commencement of trial in a 15-count charge against former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed over alleged diversion of N5.7bn billion public fund.
According to the charge sheet prepared by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the former governor is facing trial for diverting Universal Basic Education (UBEC) fund to other purposes.
During their re-arraignment on Monday, the former governor and his former Finance Commissioner, Demola Banu, pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail in the sum of N100m each.
In an interview with journalists, the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, said that the re-arraignment of the former governor from the Federal High Court to the State High Court, was as a result of conclusion of investigation into other aspects of the allegations and to prevent moving from one court to another.
Count one of the of the charges against Ahmed reads: “That you, Abdulfatah Ahmed (while being the Governor of Kwara State) and Ademola Banu (while being the commissioner of Finance of Kwara State), on or about 14 January, 2015 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did illegally spend the sum of N1,000,000,000.00 (One Billion Naira) to pay salaries of civil servants in Kwara State which sum was originally domiciled in the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Matching Grant account and which sum formed part of the funds allocated for the execution of the projects stated in the action plan for the year 2013 and approved by the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC) and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 22(5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under the same section.”
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