The case resumed on Thursday, January 8, 2025, before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar, with the prosecution calling a key witness, Stanley Ujilibo.
A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin has adjourned the ₦5.78 billion alleged fraud trial of a former Governor of the state, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, to February 16, 2026.
The case resumed on Thursday, January 8, 2025, before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar, with the prosecution calling a key witness, Stanley Ujilibo.
Ahmed and Banu are being prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of misappropriation of public funds.
Testifying as the sixth prosecution witness, Ujilibo told the court that the EFCC, during the course of its investigation, obtained bank statements of the Kwara State Government from Polaris Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank.
Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, the witness said the Commission wrote letters dated August 1, 2025, to the Managing Directors of the then Skye Bank, now Polaris Bank, and Guaranty Trust Bank, requesting statements of the state government’s accounts.
“My Lord, we wrote to the then Skye Bank, now Polaris Bank, and Guaranty Trust Bank to request the statements of accounts of the Kwara State Government,” Ujilibo told the court.
He added that the banks acknowledged receipt of the letters and subsequently supplied the requested documents, which were tendered in evidence and admitted by the court as exhibits.
The EFCC alleged that the defendants approved the diversion of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grant funds to the payment of civil servants’ salaries, contrary to the purpose for which the funds were released.
According to the Commission, the UBEC matching grants and counterpart funds, constituting 50 per cent of the total allocation, were designated for the provision of basic infrastructure in primary and junior secondary schools across the 16 local government areas of Kwara State.
At the previous sitting, a former Accountant-General of Kwara State, Suleiman Oluwadare Ishola, who served between 2013 and 2019, testified that, N1 billion in UBEC matching grant funds was borrowed by the Abdulfatah Ahmed administration in 2015 to pay salaries of civil servants and pensioners.
Ujilibo further informed the court that the EFCC received a petition from the Kwara State Government, which prompted further correspondence with the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General.
However, when the prosecution sought to tender responses from the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General, defence counsel, led by Kamaldeen Ajibade, objected, arguing that the documents had not been properly highlighted for ease of reference.
Justice Abdulgafar consequently adjourned the matter to February 16, 2026, for continuation of the trial.