Special Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Tuesday, commended President Bola Tinubu for the suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, saying collaborators who “remotely and wickedly benefitted from money that was meant for poor Nigerians” should be fished out.
While commending Tinubu for the action taken so far, Shaibu said Edu’s suspension was not enough as there were collaborators in the scandal.
Shaibu said this in a statement on Tuesday amid the reactions trailing the suspension of the minister over the alleged transfer of N585.2 million into a private account.
On Monday, President Bola Tinubu suspended the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation after a leaked memo showed that she ordered the transfer of N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant, who is the accountant in charge of grants for vulnerable Nigerians.
Edu was the National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress before she was appointed a Minister.
Shaibu’s statement, read, “Firstly, he had no business appointing her as a minister of such a sensitive ministry in the first place. Tinubu put politics ahead of competence, hence this scandal. What experience did Betta have in the development sector? How was Imaan Ibrahim, with her wealth of experience, overlooked? How did the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, stand as Betta Edu’s referee during her clearance at the Senate?”
He insisted that Betta Edu was not the only one involved in the scandal, urging the President to direct the anti-graft agencies to investigate a company owned by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, that carried out consultancy services to the tune of N438.1 million.