By Muyideen Aliyu, Ilorin
The trial of former Kwara State Governor Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, resumed on Thursday at the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin, with testimony from a key prosecution witness.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting the duo over an alleged ₦5.78 billion fraud.
The sixth prosecution witness, Stanley Ujilibo (PW6), told Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar that the EFCC obtained the Kwara State Government’s bank statements from Polaris Bank (formerly Skye Bank) and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) during its investigation.
“We wrote to the then Skye Bank, now Polaris Bank, and Guaranty Trust Bank to request the statements of accounts of the State Government,” Ujilibo explained. He added that the banks responded to the request, and the statements were admitted in court as exhibits.
The EFCC alleges that Ahmed and Banu misused Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grant funds, which were intended for infrastructural development in primary and junior secondary schools across Kwara’s 16 local government areas. Instead, the funds were allegedly diverted to pay salaries of civil servants and pensioners.
At a previous hearing, former Accountant-General Suleiman Oluwadare Ishola, who served from 2013 to 2019, had testified that ₦1 billion of UBEC matching grants was borrowed by Ahmed’s administration in 2015 for salary payments, contrary to the intended purpose of the grants.
Ujilibo further told the court that the EFCC received a petition from the Kwara State Government, which led to additional correspondence with the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General.
However, when the prosecution sought to tender these responses, defence counsel Kamaldeen Ajibade objected, noting that the documents were not properly highlighted for reference.
Following the objection, Justice Abdulgafar adjourned the trial to February 16, 2026, for continuation.
