Land Scam: I paid N2.3m into Kwara TV GM’s account – Witness

By Steve Oni, Ilorin

The trial of the embattled General Manager of the Kwara State Television Authority, Alhaji Abdulfatai Adewale Adebowale, for alleged N4m land fraud continued on Thursday with a prosecution witness, Sulyman Abdulkareem, narrating how he paid the sum of N2.3m into the account of the defendant.

He said: “My Lord, after the allocation of 10 plots of land to the staff of the Kwara State Television Authority, the General Manager of the Station, Alhaji Abdulfatai Adewale Adebowale approached the Director General of Kwara State Bureau of Land that, there was no way the 10 plots could be shared among the staff, let them sell it and bring the money.

“The DG now linked me with the defendant who instructed me to look for buyers. I sold about four plots for N2.3m. I then contacted Adebowale who told me to bring the cash, but I said, No. I requested for his account number for proper records, and I paid the money into his Stanbic IBTC account.”

The Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Adebowale on a six count charge bordering on corrupt practices before Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of the Kwara state high court sitting in Ilorin.

Count three of the charge stated: “That you, Abdulfatai Adewale Adebowale, being a public officer, as the General Manager of Kwara State Television Authority, sometime between May 2015 and June 2015, in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Kwara State, used your office to confer corrupt advantage upon yourself, when you received a cash deposit of the sum of N2.3 million through your IBTC account from Sulyman Abdulkareem, being proceeds from the sale of land allocated to staff of Kwara State Television and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.”

The defendant had pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him by the EFCC.

Further hearing in the case has been adjourned till January 14, 2020 for cross examination of the witnesses