Court grants ex-Kwara governor Ahmed ₦50m bail after spending days in EFCC net

Former Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfattah Ahmed, has regained freedom from the net of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after he was granted bail by the Federal High Court Ilorin for ₦50,000,000 with two sureties with landed properties in Ilorin, the state capital.

Ahmed is to deposit his international passport with the court among other conditions.

The former governor was arraigned on Friday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after his invitation by the anti-graft agency for investigation on corruption-related allegations on Monday.

The embattled politician was taken by the anti-graft agency on Monday where he was being probed over financial transactions worth billions of naira while he was serving as the executive governor of Kwara State.

Count one of the charges against him reads:

“That you, ABDULFATAH AHMED (while being the Governor of Kwara State) between 2015 and 2019 in Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court used an aggregate sum of N1,610,730,500.00, property of Kwara State Government, meant for the security and running cost of the Government of Kwara State to charter private jets through Travel Messengers Limited on different occasions for your local travels and which sum you reasonably ought to have known formed part of the proceeds of your unlawful act, to wit: Criminal Breach of Trust or Theft and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2)(a) of the Money Laundering (prohibition) Act, 2011 (As Amended) and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act”

Particulars of the offence in count 3 according to the EFCC, indicate, “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 N411,000,000.00 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.”

After listening to the arguments and counter-arguments of both counsels, Justice Anyadike ordered the defendant to be remanded in EFCC custody pending the perfection of his bail terms.

The case has been adjourned to April 29 and 30, 2024 for commencement of trial.

Ahmed was governor of the North Central state between May 2011 and May 2019 before he handed over to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.

Ahmed was appointed as the Commissioner for Finance in Kwara after Saraki assumed office as governor in 2003.

Ahmed left office in 2019 after serving two terms in office and was succeeded by the incumbent governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who emerged on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).