Atiku commends Presidency over Betta Edu’s suspension

calls for reform of Humanitarian Affairs Ministry

President Bola Tinubu’s decision to suspend the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, has received praise from the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Atiku, however, said that the suspension was not enough and demanded more action from the president, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Tuesday.

The president had ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, on Monday, to probe all the financial dealings of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Edu faced backlash after a memo dated December 20, 2023, exposed that she instructed the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to send N585 million to a private account belonging to one Oniyelu Bridget, who the ministry said was the Project Accountant for Grants for Vulnerable Groups.

The former Vice President lamented that a programme meant to help over 100 million Nigerians escape extreme poverty had allegedly turned into a source of illicit wealth for successive All Progressives Congress administrations.

He said, “While Tinubu deserves commendation for suspending Edu, we believe this is a belated move. First, he had no business appointing her as a minister of such a sensitive ministry in the first place. Tinubu put politics ahead of competence, hence this scandal.

“What experience did Betta have in the development sector? How was Imaan Ibrahim, with her wealth of experience, overlooked? How did the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, stand as Betta Edu’s referee during her clearance at the Senate?”

Atiku, who called for reform of the ministry, alleged that Edu was not the only one involved in the transactions.

“Betta Edu should not be the fall guy. Others who have remotely and wickedly benefitted from money that was meant for poor Nigerians ought to be fished out, probed, and prosecuted too. It is demonic and tendentiously wicked to steal in the name of the poor.

“There is a need for the government to reform the humanitarian affairs ministry and other interventionist programmes that had become an ATM and POS for those in power,” he said.

He pointed out that the fact that the previous Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, is also being probed for N37bn fraud showed that the ministry needed immediate and urgent reforms.

The statement added, “Even during the COVID-19 lockdown, Farouq continued to implement the school feeding programme. She ridiculously claimed that the food would be delivered to the students at home since schools were shut.

“Today, Betta Edu claims that over three million households got N20,000 each during the Yuletide. Sadly, there is no evidence of millions of Nigerians getting such money. This shows that money has just been going into private pockets.

“The scandal that we are contending with is not about Betta Edu, nor about Halima Shehu, or any other person for that matter.

“It is about a problem of systemic corruption through which the APC continues to bleed the treasury, ironically, asphyxiating the poor and vulnerable segment of the country, all in the name of caring for them.

“The APC has weaponised poverty and hunger to control the minds of the vulnerable masses, and it is even worse that they have devised a method to use poverty as an instrument of official corruption.”