The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday told a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos that a former governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki, diverted about N10b belonging to the State during his tenure in office.
According to the anti-graft body, Saraki allegedly diverted the money in monthly tranches of N100million between 2003 and 2011 while he was governor of Kwara State.
The agency also alleged that the former Senate President spent N1.09b out of the N10b Federal allocation to build two houses in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
The houses are said to be located at No. 10 and No. 11 Abdulkadir Road, GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State.
Counsel to the commission, Rotimi Oyedepo, therefore prayed Justice Rilwan Aikawa to order the permanent forfeiture of the houses to the Federal Government.
Recall that the EFCC had on December 2, 2019 obtained an order of temporary forfeiture on the houses located.
Oyedepo therefore, sought to have the interim forfeiture order made permanent.
In making his case, he relied on an affidavit filed before the court by an EFCC officer, Bilikisu Buhari where she averred that while Saraki was Kwara State governor, he diverted N100m on a monthly basis from the state’s federal allocation.
She claimed the money was usually diverted from the Kwara State Government account to the account of the Kwara State Government House.
From there, she said one Mr. Afeez Yusuf, acting on Saraki’s instructions, usually withdrew the money and took the cash to the Government House.
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Buhari stated further that “After the funds were stacked in the Kwara State Government House, it was then fraudulently dissipated and taken away in cash by Messrs Abdul Adama, Ubi Ofem and Ubi Austin, acting on the instructions and direction of Dr. Bukola Saraki in violent breach of public trust, and that “Part of the proceeds of the aforementioned fraud was reasonably suspected to have been comingled with other funds used for the development of the property sought to be forfeited.”
However, Dr. Saraki through his lawyer, Mr. Kehinde Ogunwunmiju (SAN) denied the allegations.
Ogunwunmiju argued that the houses were built from his client’s legitimate earnings.
According to him, N252.2m out of the N1.09bn used for developing the property represented what Saraki was paid for the development of a five-bedroom apartment, which he was entitled to as a two-term governor.
He cited the Governor and Deputy Governor (Payment of Pension) Law 2010 of Kwara State, which stipulated that an elected two-term governor of the state was entitled to a five- and four-bedroomed duplex, respectively, at any location of their choice within Kwara State.
He noted that rather than allow the state to build the house for him; Saraki preferred to collect N252.2m so he could add money to it to build a house to his taste.
Ogunwunmiju further argued that even if it was true, as alleged by the EFCC, that the document leading to the release of the N252.2m was forged by an official of the Kwara State Government, the payment to Saraki was still legitimate since it was provided for under the law.
He therefore urged the court to dismiss the EFCC’s application as an abuse of court processes, pointing out further that the same issues had been taken before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court where Saraki won.
Justice Aikwa adjourned till April 27 for judgment.
