A former Kwara State Accountant General, Suleiman Ishola, has told a High Court sitting in Ilorin that the administration of ex-Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed obtained a N1 billion loan to augment the payment of salaries to civil servants and pensioners in the State.

Ishola, who testified on Friday as a prosecution witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), added that the funds were not diverted to any personal accounts, contrary to insinuations in some quarters.

He made the disclosure while being led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in the ongoing trial of former Governor Ahmed and his ex-Commissioner for Finance, Demola Banu, over alleged misappropriation of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) funds.

Earlier, on Thursday, a former Chairman of SUBEB, Lanre Daibu, also told the court that the N1 billion loan was used by the then administration to support the payment of workers’ salaries and settle arrears owed to pensioners.

Daibu clarified that both Ahmed and Banu, the first and second defendants respectively, were not signatories to the SUBEB accounts and that the funds approved were not paid into any personal account.

In his testimony, Ishola said: “As the Accountant General, the Governor must approve all payments before I can proceed with disbursement.

“In 2014, I received a letter indicating that the sum of N1 billion would be transferred from SUBEB to the Kwara State government salary account to facilitate the payment of salaries and pensions.

“The Permanent Secretary conveyed the Finance Commissioner’s directive to me regarding salary payments. Ordinarily, the N1 billion was insufficient to cover salaries; we still had a deficit of over N700 million.

“Upon receipt of warrants and vouchers from various ministries, we made the payments accordingly. That’s part of our responsibilities.”

The case was adjourned to June 10 and 11, 2025, for continuation of trial.