Former governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his former Commissioner of Finance, Ademola Banu, were on Monday re-arraigned on fresh 14 charges of alleged N5.78billion fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed 14 new charges against the duo before the Kwara State High Court, presided over by Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar.
The charges accuse them of diverting and misappropriating public funds meant for state projects and security.
This fresh arraignment followed the withdrawal of the case from the Federal High Court in Ilorin due to the transfer of the former trial judge, Justice Evelyn Anyadike.
Ahmed and Banu were first arraigned on April 29, 2024, on a 12-count charge of mismanagement of public funds, to which they pleaded not guilty. Due to the transfer of Justice Anyadike, the trial now starts de-novo. In the new charges, Ahmed’s name appeared in all counts except for count 7, where he was solely accused of failing to declare assets.
Among the allegations, Ahmed is accused of spending N1.6 billion meant for state security to charter private jets. The former governor and Banu also allegedly conspired to misappropriate funds intended for salaries of teachers and infrastructural projects.
Count one of the charges stated: “That you, ABDULFATAH AHMED (while being the Governor of Kwara State) and ADEMOLA BANU (while being the Commissioner of Finance of Kwara State), on or about 14 January, 2015 did illegally spend the sum of N1,000,000,000.00 (One Billion Naira) to pay Salaries of civil servants which sum formed part of the funds allocated for the execution of the projects stated in the action plan for the year 2013.”
EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, presented the 14-count charge on Monday, while the defence counsels, Kamaldeen Ajibade, SAN, and Gboyega Oyewole, SAN, did not object.
The defendants pleaded not guilty, and the court granted bail to both in the sum of N100 million with two sureties each. The trial will continue on December 4 and 5, 2024.