March 17, (THEWILL)- At the meeting between First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and women leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, a fortnight ago at the Villa, suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu’s absence was not just a sad reminder of the fate that has befallen her but also the reality of power.
Many of the women at the event held to mark the International Women’s Day – six zonal leaders and 36 others from across the states – were led by the National Women’s Leader, Dr Mary Idele Alile and her deputy, Hajia Zainab Ibrahim.
Many months ago, some of these women had stormed Aso Rock to see President Bola Tinubu over what they described as the domineering posture and inaccessibility of Betta Edu as National Women’s Leader of the governing party. They wanted her to be called to order and told to “always carry the women along.” That was shortly before she was appointed minister. And the disaster that befell Betta Edu and made her a person non-grata before the powers that be. Suspended from office by the President over a messy disbursement of N585,195, 500.00 into a personal bank account, Edu has not been seen and nothing has been heard of her. She appears to have gone scot free with a slap on the wrist for an offence that generated intense public outrage barely six months into the life of the administration, in spite of the President Tinubu’s directive to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to carry out a “thorough investigation” of all the ministry’s financial transactions.”
As a follow-up, the President ordered the suspension of the National Social Investment Programmes, NSIP, such as the N-Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme and Home Grown School Feeding Programme pending investigations.
Edu however has denied any wrong doing, with her office insisting that she had approved the transfer into a personal account for the “implementation of grants to vulnerable groups.”
Like a bolt from the blue, Edugate reverberated at the House of Representatives last Wednesday.
Rep Billy Osawaru (PDP, Edo) on Wednesday during plenary moved a motion stating that the suspension of the NSIP during “this period of increasing hardship is “heightening the challenges of the vulnerable population relying on its assistance and could lead to a rise in poverty levels, social unrest and “ultimately impacting negatively on the overall stability and development of the country.”
Even the movement of the social investment programmes to the Federal Ministry of Finance was unlawful, Osawaru argued.
“The alleged recommendation suggesting that a new steering committee board under the leadership of the minister of finance should henceforth oversee the social investment programmes is not only an anomaly but contravenes the extant law which situates the implementing agency and programmes under the purview of the ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation,”Osawaru said.
He stated that until the National Social Investment Programme Agency Act 2023 is amended and enacted, decisions taken so far by the executive was a mere exercise in futility.
Against the background of the prevailing hardship in the country, Osawaru prayed the House to “urge the government to direct a serving minister of state to oversee relevant approvals and implementation of the social investment programmes to minimise the adverse implication of increasing hunger and sufferings experienced by vulnerable Nigerians relying on the programme.”
Interestingly, representatives adopted the motion when Speaker Abbas Tajudeen put the motion to voice vote.
Investigation by THEWILL however shows that until Edugate is sorted and resolved, it will continue to reverberate in different forms as it did at the House of Representatives last week. For one, she is said to have been ‘banished’ from the Presidential Villa and public affairs circles, even as the EFCC and ICPC carry on with the presidential directive to thoroughly conduct investigation into the matter.
Approached for comments on Friday, a presidential source told THEWILL in confidence that the government was not in a hurry to conclude the issue as it has allowed due process to take its course.
“The Ministerial Committee set up to look into the Social Investment scheme is not an investigative panel. We want the EFCC and the ICPC to do their work. This should not in any way be seen to be as if she has been left scot-free. No rush. As soon as the relevant agencies finish their work the final decision will be taken.”
BACKGROUND
The suspended minister was accused of authorising the payment of N585 million into the private account of one Bridget Oniyelu after the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Maiden, turned down her request for authorisation.
After her suspension on January 8, 2024, she went to the EFCC the next day to explain the circumstances surrounding the fund transfer
The money was reportedly meant for payment to vulnerable groups in Lagos, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Ogun States.
Although she maintained her innocence and insisted that she acted within the legal boundary of the civil service rules, stating that she had been targeted because of her anti-corruption stand, Chapter Seven, Section 713 of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009 , however made her plea untenable.
According to that Section, “Personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private account. Any officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention.”
Almost at the same time, her predecessor in office, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, the pioneer Minister of Social Development, Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs, as it was then known, was also alleged to have mismanaged the accounts and was invited for questioning by the EFCC over alleged N37.1 billion said to have been laundered by officials of the ministry during her tenure.
In the same vein, Halima Shehu, National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of a related agency, the National Social Investment Programme Agency, was suspended by the President over alleged laundering of N44. Billion. She was y also grilled by the EFCC about the same time. Shehu had worked at the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development from 2017 to 2022.
A dependable EFCC source told THEWILL on Friday that the Commission is yet to conclude investigation as specified by President Tinubu in his directive to investigate the affected ministry and all relevant agencies linked to the allegations. He could not tell when the investigation will be concluded.
About the Author
Amos Esele is the Deputy Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
