The Bola Ahmed Tinubu 8months administration has been inundated with corruption and misappropriation allegations. The latest is the allegations of diversion of public funds against the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu. This is on the heels of her predecessor, Sadiya Farouq, shunning EFCC summons on allegations of corruption.
A memo requesting public funds be paid to a private account, which reportedly emanated from the office of the minister, has now been confirmed by the Accountant General of the Federation, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein. She, however, said the payment was not made because “the OAGF does not make payments on behalf of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies for projects and programs implemented by the MDAs”. Instead, she advised the minister on the appropriate steps to take in line with the laid down procedure.
The memo, said to have been signed by the minister herself, is titled “Mandate for Payment of Grant for Vulnerable Groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos, and Ogun States, respectively.”The memo in question requested N585.198 million payment into a private account for a project without following due process. The account was said to belong to one Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola, who was identified by the minister as a project manager.
Betta Edu was earlier accused of N-Power funds misappropriation by the beneficiaries in a letter they addressed to the President, asking that she should be investigated alongside others.
All of these allegations against the humanitarian minister are a cause for concern because they rightly raise questions about her tenure as commissioner of health in Cross River State. For instance, how many times did she transfer public funds into a “project manager” account as a commissioner? If she did, how much in total was transferred in such a way throughout the tenure?
As Farooq Kperogi has observed, corruption crimes under the Buhari administration are resurfacing under Tinubu; his Minister, Betta Edu, has the same “theft” pattern as her predecessor. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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