January 14, (THEWILL) – Following the scandal that has rocked the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and by extension, the Ministry of Interior, one now wonders what will become of Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo’s governorship ambition?
It is not secret among political watchers and insiders that Tunji-Ojo who was working his way to become the poster boy for President Bola Tinubu’s administration, silently nursed the ambition of occupying the number one seat in Ondo State come November 2024. But recent events may have just changed all that. Recall that when the scandal involving billions of naira broke, Tunji-Ojo was alleged to have been a beneficiary of the sleaze. His company, New Planet Project Limited received the sum of N438.1 million as consultancy fee.The company was one of the numerous consultants awarded contracts from the sum of N3 billion given out by the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, for the National Social Register contract. But Tunji-Ojo denied any involvement. He claimed to have resigned from directorship of the company he founded 10 years ago in 2019 when he contested for a seat in the House of Representatives from where he was subsequently the Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC committee. He claimed that he is just a shareholder in the limited liability company, which is a private entity, not a signatory to any of the company’s accounts and not involved in the day-to-day running of New Planet Project Limited. What Tunji-Ojo however failed to clarify is who he handed the company over to after his resignation. He also did not clarify if his wife, who is a director, also resigned her directorship neither did he clarify who the signatories to the company’s account are.
Investigation into the sleaze at the ministry of humanitarian affairs at the behest of Tinubu has already begun. Whether Tunji-Ojo escapes Tinubu’s hammer remains to be seen. But if he does, will he damn the consequences of the scandal, which has now put a dent on his political curriculum vitae, or will he shelve his ambition to such a time when the dent would no longer hold any significance and Nigerians would have developed amnesia (because we have seen this play out time and time again. Nigerians will develop selective amnesia in Tunji-Ojo’s case) enough for him to resuscitate his ambition?
Will his political mentor who is a powerful member of Tinubu’s cabinet roll the dice in his favour or leave him to stew in his mess? This is also not forgetting the alleged scandal surrounding his National Youth Service Corps certificate from which he eventually got an alleged all clear from the body. Regardless, all eyes are on him and Nigerians watch with bated breath to see both his and the president’s next line of action.
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