A former Commissioner of Finance in Kwara State, Ademola Banu, has denied the allegation of N411m fraud levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Ademola also faulted the EFCC’s move to secure a warrant for his arrest. These were contained in his affidavit before the court filed on Friday, a copy of which was made available on Tuesday to newsmen. The affidavit was sworn on his behalf by Aisha Mahmud in the suit marked: FHC/Il/18C/2024 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria (complainant/respondent/) and Abdulfatah Ahmed and Ademola Banu (second defendant). Ahmed is a former Kwara State Governor. The Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC had on February 23 arraigned the immediate past governor of Kwara State, Ahmed, before Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin on charges bordering on alleged mismanagement of public funds. In the charge against Ahmed, Banu was listed as the second defendant. One of the counts against them read “That you, ABDULFATAH AHMED (while being the Governor of Kwara State) and ADEMOLA BANU (while being the Commissioner of Finance of Kwara State), between January and December 2018 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired between yourselves to commit an offence, to wit: Conversion of the sum of N411m property of Kwara State Government meant for the provision of security in Kwara State, which sum you reasonably ought to have known was a proceed of an unlawful act, to wit; theft/fraud and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012 and punishable under section 15(3) of the same Act.” According to a statement on the EFCC’s website, when the matter was called, the EFCC’s lead counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) informed the court that Banu jumped an administrative bail granted him by the EFCC and efforts to arrest him had proved abortive. He urged the court to rely on Section 83 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act to issue a summons against his surety, Salami Bashiru Ola, and/or a warrant of arrest against Banu. In a short ruling, Justice Anyadike issued a bench warrant against Banu. But Banu, in the statement on Tuesday, argued that he had no authority over the funds of the Kwara State Government as a Commissioner of Finance and that he was subject to the directive/approvals of his principal, Ahmed. He maintained that he did not abscond to the
United Kingdom. According to him, he only travelled to the
United States of America on December 21, 2023, to see his family and follow up on a medical procedure and he returned to Nigeria on February 6, 2024. He added since that time, all his telephone lines have been open and he did not receive any invitation from the EFCC. Banu, therefore, urged the court to vacate the bench warrant issued against him, saying the facts presented by the EFCC leading to the warrant were untrue and misleading.