Three of six officials of Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) recently arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for N96 million fraud were suspended in 2020 over a ‘ghost workers’ scandal.

On Tuesday, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale stated that six Kwara SUBEB officials were arraigned at the State High Court in Ilorin on a four-count charge of breach of trust and misappropriation of funds.

The six SUBEB officials are Ahmed Husain Olarewaju, Director of Finance and Supply; Omole Omololu John, Controller of Finance and Accounts; Fatai Oyerinde, Coordinator of Salary Unit; Mujeeb Ibrahim, Executive Officer, Account and Salary Schedule; Salami Temitope Bashir and Dauda Aweda Quozim, both staff of the Salary Unit.

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FIJ found that Olarewaju, Oyerinde and Ibrahim were once on the EFCC’s radar in 2020 after the commission uncovered about N1,400 ghost workers on the state government’s payroll.

When the Commission initially discovered 1,000 ghost workers on the payroll, two senior government officials were arrested and detained. A few days later, 400 additional ghost workers were uncovered.

Amid investigations into their role in the ‘ghost workers’ saga, the state government suspended the trio of Olarewaju, Oyerinde and Ibrahim, alongside Bayo Audu Onimago, the Permanent Secretary of SUBEB and Toyin Saliu, a staff of the Teaching Service Commission and then-Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT).

It was also reported that some of the beneficiaries of a N31 million fund meant to pay the salaries of the ghost workers include the NUT Chairman, the SUBEB permanent secretary, the board’s director of finance and the controller of finance.

Meanwhile, the statement issued by the EFCC on Tuesday showed the six defendants pleaded “not guilty” to the charges against them. The court, however, ordered their remand in the correctional centre in Ilorin and adjourned the case until April 16.

“Between September 2018 and December 2018 at Ilorin, within the judicial division of the Kwara State High Court, and in such capacity entrusted with a certain property to wit; the gross sum of N33,891,982.37 which sum formed part of the Kwara State SUBEB funds in account No: 0031236028 domiciled at Sterling Bank Plc, and you thereby committed the offence of criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code,” one of the charges against the six defendants reads.

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Another charge reads: “That you, Ahmed Husain Olarewaju, Omole Omololu, Fatai Oyerinde, Mujeeb Ibrahim and Bashir Temitope Salami, between January 2019 and June 2019, within the judicial division of the Kwara State High Court, being public officers in the service of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board and in such capacity entrusted with a certain property to wit…the gross sum of N30,406,629.09 which sum formed part of the Kwara State SUBEB funds in account no: 0031236028 domiciled at Stealing Bank Plc, and you thereby Committed the offence of criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code.”
The post 3 Kwara SUBEB Officials on Trial for Fresh N96m Fraud Were Once Suspended for 2020 Ghost Workers Scandal appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.