A mild drama ensued at the Kwara State High Court on Thursday at the continuation of hearing in the N5.78bn case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), against former governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and his erstwhile Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Demola Banu.

Both Ahmed and Banu were physically present in court, but the matter was stalled midway into hearing following disagreement between the defence counsels and EFCC team on the alleged improper paginated documents tendered before the court as exhibits.

For several minutes, counsels to EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) and lead counsel to the defendants, Kamaldeen Ajibade, (SAN), argued about improper arrangement of documents served on the latter and same which was tendered before the court.

Jacob had tendered the documents to be admitted as exhibits before the court but counsel to the defendants insisted that the “bundle of documents” differed from what was served on them and were also not properly arranged nor numbered to guide the court in the proceedings.

Jacob on the other hand argued that the documents served the defence counsels and which were also made available before the court were the same with the one in his possession.

He argued that it was not the duty of his team to number the documents as tendered for the defence counsels.

After listening to both parties and carefully going through the said documents, the presiding judge, Justice Mahmud Gafar, agreed with the submission of the defence counsel that the documents needed to be properly arranged.

He then adjourned the case till February 16, 2026 for continuation of hearing to allow the EFCC legal team time to properly arrange the documents.

Fielding questions from journalists after the adjournment, Ajibade said the request for the documents to be arranged properly was in order because it has to do with “proof of evidence.”

“Criminal matter was not supposed to be ambushed . What he has served on us was not properly highlighted,” he argued.

Also speaking, Jacobs who insisted that it was not the duty of his team to arrange the documents, however, said they conceded to the party’s request in the spirit of fairness.

“They said the documents were not paginated and not arranged in chronological order in which we tendered them.

“It is not our duty to number the documents for them but in the spirit of fairness to the party, we conceded to them,” he stated.

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