Kwara officials forged 326 students’ signatures to steal bursary, witness tells court

Trial of the immediate past chairperson of the Kwara State Scholarship Board, Alhaja Fatimoh Yusuf, the board’s executive secretary, Fatai Lamidi and the accountant, Stephen Ajewole, continued on Wednesday in Ilorin with the prosecution calling its second witness.

The Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on March 15, 2020, arraigned the trio on a seven-count charge before a Kwara State High Court presided over by Justice Sikiru Oyinloye over their alleged involvement in bursary fraud to the tune of N50million.

At the resumed hearing of the matter on Wednesday, the second prosecution witness, Abdulkareem Ismail, a former president of the National Association of Kwara State Students, Sokoto State Polytechnic said in his evidence in chief that only 50 students of the polytechnic benefited from the controversial bursary award from Kwara State Government while officials of the scholarship board claimed they have paid for 336 students.

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“My Lord, on that day, when the scholarship board officials arrived, it was during the strike period, we did a headcount, less than 200 students were on the ground, the board officials disqualified many people, they said only 50 students were eligible to collect the bursary.

“I was among the 50 persons that benefited from the bursary, they never asked us to append our signatures and I did not append my signature, I was invited by the EFCC last year, I was shown the list of beneficiaries submitted by the Board, I discovered that there were many irregularities,” he said.

The witness stated further that “in the list shown me at the EFCC office, 326 students were paid as claimed by the scholarship board, but the list was not a true reflection of what happened, only 50 Students were paid.

“The list submitted to the scholarship board officials prior to the payment contained more details of students’ biodata but the one generated by the Board was doctored,” Ismail said.

Justice Oyinloye after discharging the witness adjourned till March 23, 2020, for the continuation of trial.