Crime
Alleged N5.78b Fraud: Ex-Kwara Gov, Ahmed Diverted UBEC Funds-Witness
The First Prosecution Witness (PW1), Abubakar Hassan in the trial of former governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu on Monday, February 17, 2025, told Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the State High Court, sitting in Ilorin that the first defendant diverted to personal use, funds earmarked for Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) projects in the state.
The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC is prosecuting both defendants on a 12-count charge of mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of N5.78 billion.
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The witness, an Assistant Director of Finance in UBEC, while being led in evidence by prosecution, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, disclosed that a total of 51 UBEC projects approved under the 2013 Action Plan were abandoned under former Governor Ahmed due to a lack of funds. The projects, discovered by the UBEC Project Monitoring Committee in the state were abandoned despite UBEC’s approval for citing them in state and funds for their execution, released. According to the witness, the state government under the leadership of the defendant mismanaged the funds.
“My lord, the Projects Monitoring
Committee conducted investigations and found that many projects were either unexecuted or abandoned. We wrote to the then Kwara State governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, in May 2018 to address these issues. The projects were categorized into three: Early Care Education, Primary School Education, and Junior Secondary School Education, but we received no response,” he said.
He further explained that the abandoned projects were scattered all through the 16 Local Government Areas of the state and further revealed that on January 6, 2015, the sum N1 billion had to be loaned from the 2013 UBEC Matching Grant Account with Skye Bank Plc to pay staff salaries and pensions.
Addressing the utilization of the 2014 and 2015 State Counterpart Funds, he stated that the Kwara SUBEB illegally withdrew the sum of N1,829,054,054.06
(One Billion, Eight Hundred and Twenty-nine Million, Fifty-four Thousand, Fifty-four, Six Kobo) from funds lodged on February 18, 2016, stating that the withdrawn funds qualified the state to access the Federal Government’s UBE Matching Grants.
“State Matching Grants are not permitted to be borrowed or utilized 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,” he said.
Worried by the diversion of the funds, the witness disclosed that UBEC also had to send a letter of invitation to the state government, requesting a documentary evidence on Kwara State Government’s use of UBEC funds. Attached to the invite were
documents showing the lodgment of funds from UBEC to the Kwara SUBEB.
Justice Abdulgafar adjourned the matter until February 18, 2025, for cross-examination of the witness.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday, March 24, 2025 busted a Ponzi Scheme Academy and arrested 133 suspects in Abuja.
They were arrested at the Compensation Layout in Gwagwalada area of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, following actionable intelligence on the existence of the Academy.
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The Academy, named Q University (a.k.a Q-Net) is in the business of recruiting gullible young Nigerians who are trained to recruit more gullible citizens into the scheme with the promise of getting unrealistic profit returns.
The suspects are enrolled into a training codenamed: “Special Training for New Generation Billionaire” and brainwashed to believe that they would graduate into the league of billionaires.
It was gathered that got into the training by obtaining a form the promoters called “Independent Representative Application Form” with promotional slogans such as: “I’m a Champion” “I’m Unstoppable”, “I’m Infinity”, among others.
The EFCC carried out the operation in collaboration with officers and men of 176 Guards Battalion, Nigerian Army.
Items recovered from the suspects include phones, computers and other electronic gadgets.
They will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a man for allegedly stabbing his 38-year-old wife to death in Oke-Ira, Ilogbo Eremi, Badagry.
Confirming the incident on Thursday, the command’s spokesperson, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the crime took place on Wednesday.
According to Hundeyin, detectives from the Morogbo Division received a tip-off about the incident and immediately moved to the scene.
“A team of detectives, while on surveillance township monitoring patrol at Oke-Ira, Ilogbo Eremi, got information that the suspect had stabbed his wife to death. The team swiftly raced to the scene and apprehended the suspect,” he said.
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The police recovered a blood-stained kitchen knife from the suspect, who reportedly confessed to the crime during interrogation.
The victim’s remains have been deposited at the Badagry General Hospital morgue, while the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Yaba for further investigation.
Authorities assured the public that the suspect would face the full weight of the law.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Kano State Zonal Directorate, has arrested popular TikTok influencer Murja Kunya for allegedly abusing the Nigerian currency.
According to a statement released on Monday by EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, Kunya was taken into custody for spraying naira notes for fun during her stay at Tahir Guest Palace, a hotel in Kano State.
Her latest arrest follows a dramatic attempt to evade justice after she allegedly jumped administrative bail earlier granted by the commission.
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Kunya was initially arrested in January 2025 for violating the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act, which prohibits the abuse and mutilation of the national currency.
Although she was granted bail pending her arraignment before the Federal High Court in Kano, she failed to appear in court and instead went into hiding.
“After weeks of intensive investigation and surveillance, EFCC operatives successfully re-arrested the TikTok Influencer on Sunday, March 16, 2025,” the statement read.
Kunya is now in custody at the Kano Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, where she is awaiting arraignment.
The commission reiterated its commitment to enforcing laws protecting the integrity of the naira and issued a warning against all forms of naira abuse, including spraying, stamping, or mutilating the currency at social events.
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