Ejiofor Alikereports
That the suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu and her investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, despite her influential position in the All Progressives Congress and her closeness t
he suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, was not just an ordinary minister but a powerful leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who wielded considerable influence among the key actors in President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
As the National Women Leader of the party, the suspended minister was visible in all the presidential campaign rallies of the APC where she played strategic roles.
With her powerful influence among the party leaders, it was not surprising that a last-minute attempt to clip her wings and deny her a prominent position in Tinubu’s administration by APC women leaders failed woefully.
Apparently uncomfortable with her towering influence, which many believed would earn her a strategic position in the then yet-to-be appointed Tinubu’s cabinet, some APC women leaders under the aegis of ‘Elected Female National APC Officers and Zonal Women Leaders’ had in July passed a vote-of-no-confidence on her for allegedly abusing her office.
Their rejection of Edu, who was believed to be a ministerial hopeful, was contained in a petition written to President Tinubu.
The petitioners had accused her of sidelining them and arranging some fake women leaders to meet with the president during a courtesy visit
In their petition, they wrote, “Without deviating from the essence of this subject, it is pertinent we express our total displeasure and concern over the misrepresentation and self-aggrandisement of the National Woman Leader, Dr. Beta Edu during her visit to the Presidential Villa on the 13th of July 2023.
“We were totally unaware of her presidential visit and no due information, nor notification were given to us the women she claimed to represent during her visit. It is disheartening that Dr. Beta Edu could label her visit to Mr President to be the representation of national stakeholders and zonal women leaders even without them knowing and not in attendance during the visit.”
The APC women alleged that throughout the electioneering campaign, Edu worked in isolation without synergy with other national women officials of the party and the zonal women leaders.
They also alleged that most women paraded during her July 13 visit to the president were mostly fake leaders.
“We hereby reject the leadership of Dr. Betta Edu and unanimously pass a vote of no confidence on her and whatever she represents”. the petitioners stated.
The petition, signed by nine women leaders from the six geopolitical zones, was also sent to the then National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu; Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila; the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, among others.
The women who signed the petition included APC Deputy National Treasurer, Omorede Osifo; National Ex-Officio (South-west), Olubunmi Oriniowo; National Ex-Officio (North-Central), Oluwatoyin Opawoye; Zonal Women leader (North-central), Princess Zahra Audu; Zonal Women leader (South-west), Mrs Yetunde Adesanya and Zonal Women leader (South-east), Mimi Diyiokeh.
Others were the Zonal Women Leader (North-east), Zainab Alman; Zonal Women leader (South-south), Mrs. Cynthia Princewill; Zonal Women leader (North-west), Hajia Hadiza Shagari.
But despite the credibility of the petitioners, Edu was nominated and confirmed as minister overseeing a supposedly strategic ministry, which many Nigerians believe is a scam created by the immediate past administration.
However, at the moment of her glory in the ministry, Edu ran into trouble while distributing the largesse entrusted in her care without recourse to accountability and due process.
Her journey to suspension began early this month when she instigated the removal of the National Coordinator and Chief Executive of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Mrs. Halima Shehu, by President Tinubu over a multi-billion naira fraud.
Though Edu claimed she was exposing corruption, those who live in a glass house, they say, should not throw stones.
Many were not surprised few days later when a leaked memo written by her, requesting the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, to pay over N585 million for the implementation of grants to vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos states, to the personal account of the Project Accountant for Grants to Vulnerable
Groups (GVG), Mrs. Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola, surfaced online.
Reacting to the controversy generated by the leaked memo, the Special Adviser to the minister, Rasheed Olanrewaju Zubair, had in a statement, insisted that “Oniyelu Bridget is the Project Accountant for GVG from the Department of Finance and it is legal in civil service for a staff, the project accountant to be paid and use same funds legally and retire same with all receipts and evidence after project or programme is completed”.
While her media handlers and spin doctors were trying to pool the wool over the eyes of Nigerians, claiming that her case was another case of corruption fighting back, the AGF, Madein, in her reaction, exposed all their mischievous claims.
The AGF, not only faulted the suspended minister’s request to her office, clarifying that her office does not make payments for projects and programmes on behalf of MDAs, she also clarified that no bulk payment is supposed to be made to an individual’s account in the name of the project accountant, contrary to Edu’s claim that it was legal for Oniyelu Bridget to be paid the money as the Project Accountant for GVG.
Apparently unaware that the AGF had nailed her, Edu, in a statement posted on her Facebook page, insisted that the fraud allegation against her was baseless and an alleged attempt by mischief makers to undermine her ministry’s effort to fight corruption.
In a separate message posted on X, she denied any wrongdoing, saying plans to tarnish her reputation will fail.
A statement issued last Sunday by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosing that President Tinubu had ordered a probe into the allegation was seen as an attempt by the Presidency to bury the matter under the carpet in view of the influence she wielded in the ruling party and Tinubu’s administration.
However, the overwhelming evidence against her and public outcry were believed to have prompted President Tinubu to suspend her last Monday.
But President Tinubu, not only suspended her, he also directed the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, to investigate all financial transactions involving her ministry.
With the fall of Betta Edu and President Tinubu’s directive to the EFCC, the president has sent strong signals to his close allies that there may be no sacred cow in his administration’s fight against corruption.
However, whether or not the president is genuinely committed to sustaining this effort will be revealed by the events of the next few months. For now Edu is sitting in limbo.