From Taiye Joseph, Ilorin
A Kwara State High Court, presided over by Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar, has set December 3, 2024, for the trial of former Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, following his re-arraignment over a 15-count charge of alleged misappropriation of N3 billion in public funds.
Ahmed, alongside his former Finance Commissioner, Demola Banu, is accused of diverting funds meant for the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to other uses. Both defendants, who pleaded not guilty, were granted bail in the sum of N100 million each during the proceedings held at the High Court in Ilorin on Monday.
The case, initially handled at the Federal High Court in Ilorin, was transferred to the State High Court. EFCC counsel Rotimi Jacobs explained that the re-arraignment was necessitated by the completion of investigations into other aspects of the allegations to streamline the trial process.
He said, “The re-arraignment was to prevent the challenges of moving from one court to another as investigations have now covered all aspects of the allegations.”
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Ahmed and Banu are accused of illegally diverting over N1 billion in UBEC matching grant funds to pay civil servants’ salaries and transfer state funds to personal accounts for private use. The charges also include criminal breach of trust in relation to these transfers, which are said to violate the Universal Basic Education Act and the Criminal Code.
The court will begin the substantive trial on December 3.
