Ex-Kwara governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, denies being grilled by EFCC over alleged N9bn fraud

The immediate-past governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, has stated he was by no means interrogated by operatives of the EFCC for allegedly diverting N9 billion from public coffers whereas answerable for the state.

Mr Ahmed stated this on Monday night in a put up through his verified Twitter deal with.

He was reacting to a PREMIUM TIMES report published on Saturday that listed corruption cases involving some former governors that appeared to have been forgotten by the EFCC .

Mr Ahmed, a two-term former governor of Kwara State, and his predecessor, Bukola Saraki, have been on the listing collated by this newspaper. The listing have been collated based mostly on latest information experiences of arrests and interrogations of the talked about names.

Reacting in his tweet on Monday, Mr Ahmed added that he was by no means arrested by the EFCC, however that he solely honoured an invite by the fee to provide his personal aspect of the story to a corruption allegation levelled towards him as Commissioner of Finance of Kwara State and later as governor of the state.

“Your report beneath wrongly claimed EFCC arrested me for alleged diversion of N9b. Quite the opposite, I answered the company’s invitation to make clear lawful transactions throughout my tenure as Commissioner for Finance and, later, Governor of Kwara State,” Mr Ahmed’s tweet partly reads.

“I used to be neither accused of any wrongdoing nor questioned about any N9b transaction as your report inaccurately asserted. For reference, beneath is my earlier tweet issued to right the false experiences revealed following the EFCC invitation final 12 months”.

In Might of final 12 months, the previous governor was reported to have been grilled and detained by EFCC operatives.

He was only released after spending two nights in custody of the EFCC.

Earlier denial

Though the small print of the case have been by no means introduced, sources had knowledgeable this newspaper that it was in reference to how funds to the tune of about N9billion have been diverted from the coffers of the Kwara state authorities throughout his tenure as governor of Kwara State between 2011 and 2019.

Mr Ahmed, denying the allegation, had stated in a tweet, “In response to an invite by the fee through a letter dated twenty sixth April 2021, I voluntarily visited the EFCC in Abuja yesterday a couple of grievance a couple of contract awarded by Kwara State Authorities whereas I used to be the State Commissioner for Finance. I used to be not accused of any wrongdoing. Neither was I questioned about any N9b transaction. I’ve since been granted bail.”

In response to an invite by the fee through a letter dated twenty sixth April 2021, I voluntarily visited the EFCC in Abuja yesterday with regard to a grievance a couple of contract awarded by Kwara State Authorities whereas I used to be State the Commissioner for Finance.

— Alh Abdulfatah Ahmed (@AbdulfataAhmed) May 18, 2021

The administration of Mr Ahmed, a political godson of a former Senate President, Mr Saraki, who can also be a former governor of Kwara State, has been under the searchlight of the EFCC for a while.

In January final 12 months, the fee arraigned the Commissioner for Finance below Mr Ahmed’s administration on expenses of N411million cash laundering.

The anti-graft company alleged that the ex-commissioner, Ademola Banu, dedicated the crime in 2018 by conspiring with others to launder the stated sum belonging to the Kwara State Authorities.