*EFCC witness exonerates duo from diversion
Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) witness, Mr. Abubakar Hassan, in the trial of the former governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Demola Banu, over alleged diversion of the State Universal Basic Education Board(SUBEB) funds Tuesday exonerated the duo from the alleged diversion of the funds in the state.
Mr. Hassan, Assistant Director of Finance, Universal Basic Education Commission(UBEC) stated that, the duo were not signatories to the account of SUBEB and cannot be liable for the purported missing funds.
Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had dragged the duo before an Ilorin, Kwara State High Court for alleged misappropriation of UBEC’s matching grants of N5.78 billion between 2013 and 2019
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At the resumed hearing of the case Tuesday at the Ilorin High Court, EFCC’s witness, Mr. Hassan, told the court during cross-examination that, “SUBEB is an autonomous agency, with a separate board having executive chair as its head.”
Counsel to the former governor and ex-commissioner, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole (SAN) cross-examined the witness.
The witness said, “States SUBEB have distinct and separate account from the state government. The governor is not allowed to be a member of SUBEB board.
“Ex-governor Ahmed was not a member of SUBEB. Neither was he a signatory to the account. UBEC usually pays matching grants to states SUBEB accounts”.
Hassan added that “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 same 9n its own according to the law”.
The witness also revealed that through letter to SUBEB’s banks, it 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 hearing, Hassan, while being led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), testified that a total of 51 projects approved under the 2013 action plan were abandoned due to a lack of funds.
According to Hassan, the UBEC project monitoring committee discovered that, despite the approval for these projects, the funds meant for the projects were mismanaged.
“The projects monitoring exercise conducted investigations and found that many projects were either unexecuted or abandoned.
“We wrote to the then-Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, in May 2018 to address these issues”, he added.
Meanwhile, the Presiding Judge Mahmud Abdulgafar has adjourned the case to March 12 and 13 for continuation.
