EFCC witness clears ex-Kwara governor of SUBEB fund diversion

From Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin

The trial of the former governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his former Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Demola Banu, over the alleged diversion of State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) funds, has suffered a setback as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness, Mr. Abubakar Hassan, exonerated the duo from the alleged diversion of SUBEB funds in the state.

Mr. Hassan, Assistant Director of Finance at the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Abuja, stated that “the duo are not signatories to the account of SUBEB and cannot be allegedly liable for the missing funds.”

The Ilorin zonal directorate of the EFCC had dragged the duo before an Ilorin High Court for the alleged misappropriation of UBEC’s matching grants of N5.78 billion between 2013 and 2019.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

However, at the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, the EFCC’s witness, Mr. Hassan, told the court during cross-examination that “SUBEB is an autonomous agency, with a separate board having an executive chairman as its head.”

Counsels to the former governor and ex-commissioner, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), cross-examined the witness, respectively.

The EFCC witness said, “State SUBEBs have distinct and separate accounts from the state government’s. The governor is not allowed to be a member of the SUBEB board.

“Ex-governor Ahmed was not a member of SUBEB. Neither was he a signatory to the account. UBEC usually pays matching grants to state SUBEB accounts.”

Hassan added that “UBEC receives education action plans from states and approves them for the board. SUBEB is an independent agency under the UBEC Act. SUBEB payments are not for the state government.

“It is the duty of SUBEB to receive grants and disburse them according to the law.”

The witness also revealed that, through a letter to SUBEB’s banks, UBEC eventually retrieved its matching grants of over N1.8 billion meant for 2013 and 2014 due to illegal withdrawal and the board’s refusal to pay its counterpart funds.

During Monday’s hearing, Hassan, while being led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), testified that a total of 51 projects approved under the 2013 action plan were abandoned due to a lack of funds.

According to Hassan, the UBEC project monitoring committee discovered that, despite the approval for these projects, the state government under the leadership of the erstwhile governor mismanaged the funds.

“The projects monitoring exercise conducted investigations and found that many projects were either unexecuted or abandoned.

“We wrote to the then-Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, in May 2018 to address these issues, but we received no response,” Hassan stated.

He further explained that the abandoned projects spanned all 16 local government areas of Kwara State.

Hassan revealed that on 6 January 2015, N1 billion was loaned from the 2013 UBEC matching grant account with Skye Bank Plc to pay staff salaries and pensions.

Addressing the utilisation of the 2014 and 2015 State Counterpart Funds, he stated that the Kwara SUBEB had illegally withdrawn N1,829,054,054.06 from funds lodged on 18 February 2016.

These funds had qualified the state to access the Federal Government’s UBEC Matching Grants.

Hassan further testified that UBEC had sent a letter of invitation requesting documentary evidence regarding the Kwara State Government’s use of UBEC funds.

“We submitted documents showing the lodgement of funds to the Kwara SUBEB. The projects were categorised into three: early care education, primary school education, and junior secondary school education,” he explained.

He also reiterated that UBEC had written to the first defendant (Abdulfatah Ahmed) in May 2018, drawing attention to the alleged mismanagement of education funds. However, there was no response from the state government.

“State matching grants are not permitted to be borrowed or utilised for any purpose outside the approved action plan.

“The objectives of UBEC were undermined due to these infractions and the failure to implement the action plan,” Hassan stated.

Presiding Judge Mahmud thereafter adjourned the case to 12 and 13 March for the continuation of the trial.