A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, on Thursday, adjourned till February 16, 2026, for further hearing in the case of alleged diversion of ₦5.78bn involving a former governor of the state, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his then Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu.
The duo are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged financial misconduct during Ahmed’s administration.
At the resumed sitting before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar, the sixth prosecution witness, Ujilibo, told the court that the EFCC, in the course of its investigation, obtained bank statements of the Kwara State Government in respect of loans reportedly secured to pay salaries of teachers under the State Universal Basic Education Board.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, the witness said the commission wrote to the banks requesting statements of accounts linked to SUBEB funds and Universal Basic Education Commission matching grants.
The bank statements were subsequently tendered and admitted in evidence as exhibits.
However, proceedings were stalled after a disagreement between Jacobs and defence counsel, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), over the arrangement of the documents already served on the defence and tendered before the court.
Ajibade argued that the documents before the court were different from what was served on the defence, adding that they were neither paginated nor arranged to aid the defendants’ response.
Jacobs disagreed, insisting the same documents were served and that it was not the duty of the prosecution to arrange them for the defence.
The disagreement prompted the court to adjourn the matter to enable the parties to put the documents in proper order.
Ruling, Justice Abdulgafar adjourned the continuation of the trial to February 16, 2026, saying the adjournment became necessary owing to the improper arrangement of documents.
Speaking with our correspondent after the proceedings, Ajibade described the development as unacceptable in a criminal trial, insisting the prosecution ought to have properly prepared the proof of evidence.
“This is a criminal matter where prosecution ought to have served us proof of evidence beforehand.
“A criminal matter is not supposed to be an ambush. What was served on us was not properly highlighted to assist us while tendering those documents, in order for us to take a look and know whether we are objecting or not.
“The court then directed that the proper thing should be done,” he said.
Also reacting, Jacobs maintained that the EFCC had discharged its responsibility.
“We served all documents sought to be tendered, but they said they are not paginated and not in chronological order.
“Our duty is to forward the documents to them and not to arrange the documents for them.
“But they insisted that it should be in order and numbered in order to follow the proceedings,” he said.
The EFCC alleged that Ahmed and Banu approved the use of UBEC matching grants to pay salaries of civil servants, contrary to the purpose for which the funds were released.
At an earlier sitting, a former Accountant-General of the state, Suleiman Ishola, testified that ₦1bn, being part of UBEC matching grants, was borrowed in 2015 to pay salaries of civil servants and pensioners.
