Ilorin, Kwara State — The trial of a former Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, resumed on Thursday, January 8, 2026, with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) presenting further evidence in support of its N5.78 billion fraud allegations against the duo.
The defendants are being prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin.
At the resumed hearing, a key prosecution witness, Mr. Stanley Ujilibo, appeared as the sixth prosecution witness (PW6). Ujilibo told the court that, in the course of its investigation, the EFCC obtained bank statements of the Kwara State Government from Polaris Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank).
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, the witness explained that the Commission formally wrote to the Managing Directors of the two banks—then Skye Bank (now Polaris Bank) and GTBank—requesting statements of account linked to the Kwara State Government.
“My Lord, we wrote to the then Skye Bank, now known as Polaris Bank, and Guaranty Trust Bank to request the statements of accounts of the Kwara State Government,” Ujilibo said.
He disclosed that the letters, dated August 1, 2025, were duly acknowledged by the banks, which later supplied the requested documents. The bank statements were subsequently tendered in evidence and admitted by the court as exhibits.
The EFCC has alleged that the former governor and his commissioner unlawfully approved the use of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grant funds to pay salaries of civil servants, an action the Commission says was contrary to the purpose for which the funds were released.
According to the prosecution, the UBEC matching grants and the mandatory counterpart funds—constituting 50 percent of the total allocation—were specifically earmarked for the provision of basic infrastructural facilities in primary and junior secondary schools across the 16 local government areas of Kwara State.
At an earlier sitting, the court heard testimony from a former Accountant-General of Kwara State, Mr. Suleiman Oluwadare Ishola, who served between 2013 and 2019. Ishola had told the court that the sum of N1 billion, being a UBEC matching grant, was borrowed by the Abdulfatah Ahmed administration in 2015 to pay salaries of civil servants and pensioners.
Continuing his testimony, Ujilibo further informed the court that the EFCC also acted on a petition received from the Kwara State Government, which necessitated additional correspondence with the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General during the investigation.
However, when the prosecution sought to tender responses obtained from the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General, defence counsel, led by Kamaldeen Ajibade, raised an objection. He noted that the documents had not been properly highlighted to aid easy reference.
In his ruling, Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar upheld the observation and adjourned the case to February 16, 2026, for the continuation of trial.
Fresh Facts Magazine will continue to monitor and report developments in the case.
