Ahmed Abdulfatah, a former governor of Kwara State, has been docked for allegedly spending N1,610,730,500.00 billion on flying private jets while leading the state.
He is being arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the Ilorin division of the Federal High Court.
The EFCC said its investigation showed that the former governor spent the amount in question on chartering private jets when the money was for the security and general running costs of the state.
âAhmed (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, 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,” a document obtained by The PUNCH partly read.
The EFCC is prosecuting him broadly on a 12-count charge of abuse of office and mismanagement of state funds up to N10 billion.
He had been invited by the agency many times for questioning before having his day in court.
He allegedly diverted N400 million out of a N1 billion short-term loan the state collected from Ecobank, a commercial bank, for the purpose of completing public projects.
Journalists were, however, prevented from covering the court proceedings.
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As a governor, he was preceded in office by Bukola Saraki and succeeded by Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, the incumbent governor.
