THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned six officials of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) before the State High Court in Ilorin over the alleged diversion of N96 million in public funds.
In a statement issued by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, on Tuesday, the officials allegedly conspired between 2018 and 2020 to misappropriate government funds for personal gain while serving in various capacities at SUBEB.
Ahmed Olarewaju, Omole Omololu, Fatai Oyerinde, Mujeeb Ibrahim, Salami Bashir, and Dauda Quozim were arraigned before Justice Suleiman Akanbi on a four-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds.
“That you, Ahmed Husain Olarewaju, Omole Omololu, Fatai Oyerinde, Mujeeb Ibrahim, and Bashir Temitope Salami, between September 2018 and December 2018, while being public officers entrusted with the sum of N33,891,982.37 from the Kwara SUBEB account domiciled in Sterling Bank Plc, committed a criminal breach of trust, an offence punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code.” one of the charges read.
Another count accused them of misappropriating N30,406,629.09 from the same account between January and June 2019.
While the defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges, the prosecution counsel, Andrew Akoja, requested a trial date and urged the court to remand the defendants in a federal correctional facility.
The judge, Akanbi, adjourned the case to April 16, 2025, for further hearing and ordered their remand at the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Ilorin, despite an oral bail application by the defence counsel, Abdullahi Lawal.
Recall that in 2020, the ICIR reported that the EFCC uncovered over 1,000 ghost workers within the Kwara SUBEB.
The EFCC stated that it recovered over N138 million in cash from alleged looters of the state treasury during the crackdown.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.