ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Renowned Nigerian-American professor and writer, Farooq Kperogi, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to dismiss the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, in light of an alleged N585,198,500.00 million corruption scandal.
Edu is facing criticism for authorizing the payment of N585,198 million into the private account of Bridget Mojisola Oniyelu.
In response to the unfolding scandal, Kperogi, in an essay shared on Saturday through his X handle, asserted that if Tinubu doesn’t promptly remove Edu from office, the President would lose the moral authority to combat corruption.
He highlighted a leaked memo dated December 20, 2023, where Edu instructed the Accountant-General of the Federation to transfer more than N500 million designated for “vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun, and Lagos” into the private UBA account of Bridget Mojisola Oniyelu
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This action, according to Kperogi, violates Nigeria’s public sector financial regulation law.
Quoting section 713 of the act, Kperogi emphasized, “Any officer who pays public money into a private bank account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intentions.”
“Unfortunately, some of the crimes Muhammadu Buhari’s people committed in his eight-year reign are reappearing now. It has now come to light, for example, that Betta Chimaobim Edu, the successor to Sadiya Umar Farouq, has started the same pattern of theft by her predecessor.
“In a leaked December 20, 2023, memo to the Accountant-General of the Federation, Edu instructed that money designated for “vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun and Lagos,” which amounted to more than N500 million, should be paid into the private UBA account of one Bridget Mojisola Oniyelu in violation of Nigeria’s public sector financial regulation law.
“The regulation says public money should not, under any circumstance, be paid into private bank accounts.
“This is a momentous moment for Tinubu. If he does not fire Edu forthwith and bring her to justice, he has already lost the moral high ground to try Muhammadu Buhari’s corrupt honchos,” he said.