By Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin
At the resumed hearing of the alleged diversion of N5.7B of SUBEB fund by the immediate past governor of Kwara state Alh AbdulFatah Ahmed, and his Finance Commissioner, Demola Banu on Thursday, former Chairman of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, Barrister Lanre Daibu, told the state High Court that the N1 billion loan received from the board in 2013 was used by the then state government to augment salary payment of workers and pensioners being owed.
Alhaji Daibu, also a lawyer and former commissioner in the state was a witness in the court today of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in the ongoing trial.
Daibu,the ex-chairman of the board, , also reiterated that the former governor and the ex-Finance commissioner were no signatories to the SUBEB Account.
He had narrated to the court that then commissioner for Finance, Mr. Banu, had approached the board to explain about paucity of fund in the government and the need to request for a N1billion loan from the SUBEB account in order to pay workers and pensioners.
Daibu also said that the N1B was taken out of the money meant to execute projects in SUBEB.
He said that the board had met and after exhaustive discussion on the matter sought commitment of the state government’s request in written form, before the release was approved.
The EFCC witness, who said that the state government had said that the loan would be repaid from the monthly revenue allocation, added that money was not paid back before he left office and the board was dissolved.
Counsel to the former governor, Kamaldeen Ajibade,SAN during cross-examination, had put it to Daibu that the statement which the former SUBEB chairman made to the EFCC was made under caution and that it was made as a suspect of the EFCC.
Daibu also said that the N1bn loan was transferred to salary account of the state government and not to either of the personal account of the defendants.
Also, during his cross examination by counsel to the first defendant, a retired Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Finance, Mr. Benjamin Seyinde Fatigun, said that the ministry initiated a memo to the governor suggesting way out for the state government due to difficulty in payment of salary of its workforce.
“There were issues in payment of salaries in 2015. Monthly FAAC allocation to the state’s government, as at that time, was unstable”, he said.
Fatigun also said that SUBEB was identified as quick fix to rescue the government from the situation, adding that that was the reason why the loan was borrowed to augment the staff salaries which included civil servants, teachers and pensioners.
He also said that the N1billion loan from SUBEB was paid into the state’s salary account and not personal accounts of the first and second defendants.
The presiding judge Mahmud however adjourned the case till Friday ,April 11 for continuation of hearing.
The post N1b taken as loan to pay workers’ salaries, pensioners – ex-Kwara SUBEB boss tells Court appeared first on Vanguard News.
Read original post
0 Comments