Accused Lady Fraudsters in President Tinubu’s Administration at the Eye of Corruption Storm
By Luka Binniyat
(KADUNA) – After days of intense media and public outrage, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Monday, ordered the immediate suspension and probe of 37 year old Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, over alleged fraud of N585 million (US$487,500 at Nigeria parallel exchange market rate of N1,200 Naira to US $1)
Betta Edu. Photo credit: Facebook/Betta Edu.
The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Services, formerly Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, was created in 2019 to make interventions on dire humanitarian issues affecting vulnerable Nigerians, including poverty alleviation among others.
Nigeria’s monthly minimum wage salary is N30,000 Naira (US$25 dollars).
“In 2023, nearly 12 percent of the world population in extreme poverty lived in Nigeria, considering the poverty threshold at 1.90 U.S. dollars a day. Within the studied time frame, the share mainly rose,” says Statista.
Nigeria has been rated among the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International (IT) 2022 report..
Former Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron once described Nigeria and Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt” countries.
On the trending story, the immediate past Minister of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Hajia Sadiya Umar Faruk and the National Coordinator of its fundamental organ – National Social Investment Programs Agency (NSIPA) – Hajia Halima Shehu are now under probe of corruption totaling not less than N54.1 billion Naira (US$45.08 million).
Immediate past Minister of
Humanitarian Affairs
and Poverty Alleviation.
The three women are all leading politicians of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). The recently suspended Edu was a past National Women Leader of the APC.
Edu had attracted severe social media bashing after some documents were leaked from her office in which she wrote the Accountant General of Nigeria, Oluwatoyin Sakirat Madein, directing her to transfer N584 million from the account of the Ministry to that of a private individual, Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola. This was on 20th December, 2023, according to the document which has also been spotted by Truth Nigeria. Edu explained that the money was for vulnerable groups of persons in Cross River, Ogun, Lagos and Akwa Ibom States, the Cable reported.
Edu’s request raised red flags at her ministry: “Personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private bank account. An officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention,” according to Section 7(713) of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009.
But Edu denied wrongdoing, stating that there was a campaign to smear her good name.
The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Sakirat Madein on Jan. 6 stated that she received the directive of Edu but refused to honors it because it was illegal.
This further heightened the national outrage prompting several groups and individuals to ask for the resignation of the Minister.
Few were surprised when Tinubu asked for her immediate suspension and probe as issued by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President, Media & Publicity on 8th January, 2024.
“In line with his avowed commitment to uphold the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability in the management of the commonwealth of Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu suspends the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, from office with immediate effect, according to the President’s statement.
“The President further directs the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of the financial transactions involving the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, as well as one or more agencies thereunder.
“The suspended Minister is hereby directed to hand over to the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, and she is further directed by the President to fully cooperate with the investigating authorities as they conduct their investigation.
“Furthermore, the President has tasked a panel that is headed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance to, among other functions, conduct a comprehensive diagnostic on the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes with a view to conclusively reforming the relevant institutions and programmes in a determined bid to eliminate all institutional frailties for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households and win back lost public confidence in the initiative.
The first to face the EFCC over the alleged fleecing of the agencies created to assist the poor and vulnerable, was Hajia Halima Bello who was detained by the EFCC for a night but subsequently granted bail Wednesday night.
The Punch reports that Bello is being investigated over allegations of N44 billion Naira (US $ 36.66 million dollars) fraud.
“The embattled National Co-ordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, Halima Shehu, who was arrested in connection with an alleged ₦44billion money laundering, has been released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on bail.” reported The Punch.https://punchng.com/n44bn-fraud-nsipa-coordinator-gets-bail-meets-interrogators-daily/
After days of playing hide-and-seek, former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Hajia Sadiya Umaru Faruk finally handed herself to the EFCC in Abuja, Monday around 10am, TruthNigeria has confirmed.
The Minister arrived to answer allegations of diversion of N37,170,855,753.44 meant for the poor into different accounts laundered by one James Okwette.
After facing investigators of the EFCC, Sadiya was granted bail by 11 pm Jan. 8.
The financial scandal which pundits have described as “heartless,” involving the three women, reputed to be beauties, has provoked comparisons to the infamous former Minister of State for petroleum, Madueke Diezanni, also was noted for beauty.
In 2020, former Chairman of EFCC accused Diezanni of stealing US$2.5 billion (N3 trillion naira @ current market exchange rate of US$1 to N1,200 naira)
He said he that he was working for her extradition from the UK where she had been living since 2015 after the government under which she served was defeated in the 2015 presidential elections.
But Diezani, who is said to be battling breast cancer in London, has denied every corruption charges and even slammed a N100 billion Naira (US$83.33 dollars) libel against the EFCC and Nigeria’s Attorney General.
In the suit file on May 26th, 2024 marked as CV/6273/2023, the former Minister denied all allegations and warned against what she said was further damages against her name.
These developments of mind bungling allegations against the women under the eye of the storm has offered more hindsight that corruption in Nigeria is not gender biased.
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Luka Binniyat is a veteran news reporter in Kaduna and reports on crime and politics for TruthNigeria.
