A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Thursday adjourned proceedings in the alleged ₦5.78bn diversion case involving a former governor of the state, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his former Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, to February 16, 2026.
The two defendants are standing trial before the court on charges brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, bordering on alleged financial impropriety during Ahmed’s tenure as governor.
At the resumed hearing before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar, the sixth prosecution witness, Ujilibo, told the court that investigations conducted by the EFCC led to the retrieval of bank statements belonging to the Kwara State Government.
According to the witness, the statements related to loans allegedly obtained to pay teachers’ salaries under the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
While being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, the witness said the EFCC wrote to several banks requesting statements of accounts connected to SUBEB funds as well as Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) matching grants.
The bank statements were subsequently tendered by the prosecution and admitted in evidence as exhibits by the court.
However, the proceedings were disrupted following a disagreement between the prosecution and the defence over the arrangement of the documents earlier served and tendered.
Defence counsel, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), objected on the grounds that the documents before the court differed from those served on the defence, adding that they were neither paginated nor properly arranged to enable an effective response.
In response, Jacobs disagreed with the objection, maintaining that the same set of documents had been served on the defence and that it was not the responsibility of the prosecution to organise the documents on their behalf.
The disagreement led the court to halt proceedings and adjourn the matter to allow both parties to properly organise the documents already before the court.
In his ruling, Justice Abdulgafar adjourned the continuation of the trial to February 16, 2026, noting that the adjournment was necessary due to the improper arrangement of the documents.
Speaking to journalists after the court session, Ajibade described the situation as unacceptable in a criminal trial, insisting that the prosecution should have adequately prepared and served 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 fulfilled its obligation in the matter.
“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 has alleged that Ahmed and Banu authorised the use of UBEC matching grants to pay salaries of civil servants, contrary to the intended purpose of the funds.
At an earlier hearing, a former Accountant-General of Kwara State, Suleiman Ishola, testified that ₦1bn from the UBEC matching grants was borrowed in 2015 to pay salaries of civil servants and pensioners.
