A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has told the Kwara high court that Abdulfatah Ahmed, former governor of the state, did not pay back the N1 billion loan collected from the state’s universal basic education board (SUBEB).
Lanre Daibu, a former chairman of Kwara SUBEB, spoke on Thursday when he appeared before Mahmud Abdulgafar, the presiding judge of the high court.
Daibu is the fourth prosecution witness.
Ahmed alongside Ademola Banu, a former commissioner for finance, is facing trial on a 14-count charge bordering on alleged stealing and mismanagement of public funds to the tune of N5.78 billion.
The former governor and Banu were accused of conspiring to divert money from Kwara SUBEB.
The duo pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.
Led in evidence by Rotimi Jacobs, EFCC lawyer, at the court session, Daibu said Banu directed the release of N1 billion from the 2013 matching grant of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for the payment of teachers’ salaries and pensioners’ allowance in January 2015.
The witness said the state government did not repay the loan until the board was dissolved before the tenure expiration.
“My lord, the second defendant, Banu, called me on the phone saying that the state government needed money to pay salaries of its workforce and pensioners,” he told the court.
“The board sat on the issue and concluded that such requests must be in writing and not telephone conversation. I called the honourable commissioner to put it into writing.
“The reason we insisted that such a 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, they promised to pay back in a month or two. However, they did not repay the loan till the board was dissolved.
“I was reluctant to grant the request because I was fully aware that the state government has no right to borrow or spend UBEC Matching Grant, meant to be used for the purposes stated in the Action Plan.”
He tendered a letter from the Kwara ministry of finance, which indicated that the state governor approved the loan request.
FIFTH PROSECUTION WITNESS
Also presenting his testimony, Benjamin Sehinde Fatigun, a retired permanent secretary in the state ministry of finance, confirmed that the governor approved the N1 billion loan request.
“There was an approval from the then governor of Kwara state, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed that the State Universal Basic Education Board should lend the Kwara state government the sum of N1 billion to augment the payment for civil servants and retirees,” Fatigun said.
“I got the approval from the honourable commissioner for finance, that is the second defendant and the fund was transferred to the state’s salary account.”
“My lord, a letter emanated from the ministry of finance to the office of the executive governor of the state that we have challenges in paying salaries and SUBEB was suggested as a way out and I explained in the statements I made with the EFCC how the sum of N1 billion was released.”
The case was adjourned to April 11 for further hearing. (The Cable)
