EFCC witness insists N5.78bn SUBEB funds were not state projects as trial adjourns
By Mosunmola Ayobami, Ilorin
The trial of former Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, over the alleged diversion of N5.78 billion belonging to the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), resumed on Monday before the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Ahmed and Banu on charges bordering on the alleged diversion of SUBEB funds, with Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar presiding over the case.
During the resumed hearing, the sixth prosecution witness, Stanley Ujilibo, an EFCC operative, maintained under cross-examination that the 2013, 2014 and 2015 SUBEB intervention projects were exclusively for the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board and were supervised by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), insisting they were not state government projects.
Ujilibo also told the court that the petition that led to the investigation and prosecution of the defendants originated from the then Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Ayoola Idowu.
When asked whether Idowu benefited from the alleged N1 billion loan obtained from the SUBEB counterpart fund, the witness said he could not confirm this, noting that the former DPP was a civil servant at the time.
Responding to questions from counsel to the second defendant, Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), Ujilibo said Banu was neither a member of the SUBEB Board nor a signatory to its accounts, but confirmed that he signed documents requesting the release of SUBEB funds and the N1 billion loan, which had already been tendered before the court.
Following the conclusion of the witness’s cross-examination, prosecution counsel Adebisi Adeniyi, from the chambers of Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), sought an adjournment after informing the court that the next prosecution witness, a banker, was unavailable because he was testifying before another court.
Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar subsequently discharged the sixth prosecution witness and adjourned the case until November 9, 2026, for the continuation of trial.
