BettaGate, A Splash On The Innocent
Bettagate is a major financial scandal about Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs in the administration of President Bola Tinubu. The scandal stemmed from the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs written Memo, requesting the Account-General of the federation, Dr. Modein, to make payment from her ministry’s account to the private account of a staff of her ministry. The funds were meant for Cross River, Ogun, Lagos and Akwa-Ibom states. Denial attempts to cover up the transaction led to revelations, leading to the fact that the Minister of Interior, Tunji Ojo, is linked to one of the companies that benefited from the award of contracts from her ministry.
Amongst other revelations, it’s alleged that a company owned by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was reportedly paid a total amount of N438.1 million by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation under Edu for consultancy services.
The Minister of the Interior, Tunji Ojo, appeared on Channels TV Politics Today programme last night, trying to wriggle out of questions on his connection to a company, New Planet Project Limited, that Betta Edu, the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, alleged to have been a beneficiary of a contract from her ministry.
Tunji Ojo was the founder of the company, New Planet Project Limited, his wife and son were also Directors of the company at it’s registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC. Tunji, while trying to extricate and absolve himself from the company and alleged contract award, said he had resigned from the company since 2019, immediately he was elected into the House of Representatives. He presented a Certified True Copy of his resignation letter from the company by the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.
However, Tunji did not say whether his wife and son are still on the board of the company as Directors.
Notwithstanding, it would be interesting to know the status of Tunji’s wife and son in the company as at today, especially since Tunji’s resignation from the company in 2019.
Tunji-Ojo, like Betta Edu, may be in the eye of the storm if the status of his wife in the company he founded and resigned from, is not clarified.
Definitely, Tunji has more questions than answers to give Nigerians albeit his sterling performance in tackling and fixing the myriads of issues connected to International Passport application processes at Nigeria Immigration Service. Like or hate Tunji because of allegations against him, he has done well at fixing the deliberate hurdles placed on the path of Nigerian Passport applicants by corrupt officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service. I hope he will scale through these allegations with the necessary answers to Edu’s allegations.
Also, the EFCC quizzed Edu’s predecessor, Sadiya Farouq, yesterday, over an alleged laundering of N37.1 billion during her tenure as a minister under the administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari. Farouq was still at the EFCC office as of 6.00 p.m. on Monday.
Before her ministerial appointment last August, Betta Edu was Cross River State Commissioner for Health and the National Women Leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). Edu was a prominent figure in the campaign train of Tinubu during the electioneering process that brought the ex-Lagos governor into office as President.
We must commend President Tinubu’s prompt response to public outcry to suspend her from office, and further instructions directing the EFCC to conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of financial transactions involving the ministry.
Interestingly, the suspension of Betta Edu has automatically opened a flood gate of videos hitherto not on social media platforms, into public domain.
Is this a deliberate attempt by disgruntled people to rubbish her person for not directly benefitting from the largesse of her ministry? Is there a group of persons out there deliberately pulling strings to pull Betta down into ignominy? Or could a cabal in her ministry be responsible for the various videos presently in circulation to defame her person and integrity? With time, perhaps very soon, Betta Edu will speak to Nigerians on the real issues that led to her fall from political relevance as Nigeria’s youngest cabinet minister. Will she come out of the EFCC investigation unscathed, unblemished, as white and pure as a dove? Would allegations of this matter not splash on innocent persons? These are questions pregnant with answers.
Is there a ‘banana peel’ at the ministry of Humanitarian Affairs that makes every occupier of that ministry to be mired in financial malfeasance? Time will tell.
Ono. Eviosekwofa