A former Controller of Finance and Account at the Kwara State Government House, Isiaka Kareem, has told the Federal High Court in Lagos that one Abdul Adama, who was Personal Assistant to former Kwara State Governor, Dr Bukola Saraki, received monthly payments, which were sometimes about N100m, from the state Government House monthly allocation on the instructions of his boss.
Kareem told the court that Adama was paid monthly between from 2003 till 2011 when Saraki finished his second term in office as governor.
He said the former governor personally introduced Adama to him as his Personal Assistant, adding that the monthly payment made to Adama, on Saraki’s instructions, was tagged “security and contingency”.
Kareem appeared as a witness on Wednesday in Lagos court where the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is seeking the permanent forfeiture of Saraki’s two houses in Ikoyi, Lagos to the Federal Government.
Justice Mohammed Liman had previously ordered the temporary forfeiture of the houses “lying and known as No. 17A McDonald Road, Ikoyi.”
The EFCC claimed that the houses were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activity.
The anti-graft agency alleged in a supporting affidavit that Saraki, who served two terms as Kwara State Governor between 2003 and 2011, “withdrew over N12bn cash from the account of the Kwara State Government and paid same into his accounts domiciled in Access and Zenith Banks through one of his personal assistants, Abdul Adama, at different intervals.”
While being led in evidence on Wednesday by EFCC counsel, Nnaemeka Omewa, the witness said, “Every month, when monthly allocations were disbursed, Adama would come to collect funds designated as ‘security and contingency’. In my office, we designated a form for everyone that came to collect funds and Adama signed the form every month for the funds he collected from my office. The funds were collected between 2003 when I resumed until the governor left in 2011.”
Under cross-examination by Saraki’s lawyer, Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN), the witness clarified that the amount collected monthly by Adama fluctuated according to the volume of the Government House’s allocation.
He said, “The allocation to Government House was not static. It was less than N100m when we started and it kept increasing overtime. That was why I said it was not N100m every month.”
Justice Liman adjourned till November 25 for further hearing in the case.
PUNCH