Betta Edu Scandal: I didn’t Directly Take N438 million Contract , My Company Did- Interior Minister, Tunji- Ojo
The Minister of Interior, Hon Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has denied involvement in the emerging financial scandal in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation which led to the suspension of Ms Betta Edu as minister by President Bola Tinubu.
Reports had emerged that Tunji-Ojo’s company, New Planet Limited was one of the companies awarded one of the controversial contracts that led to Ms Edu’s suspension.
New Planet Limited is alleged to have been given N438.1 million contract for “verification of the social register.”
However, denying direct involvement in the contract scam the Hon. Tunji-Ojo, while speaking on Channels TV programme, Politics Today on Monday, stated that the company in question was indeed his, but that he had resigned from the management of the company since he was elected into the House of Representatives before his appointment as a minister.
He said, “I have to say this: I saw it and was shocked because the company in question was where I was the director. About five years ago, I resigned my directorship.
“Yes, I founded the company ten years ago. In 2019, when I got to the House of Representatives, I won the election precisely, and I resigned. I resigned on 4th February, 2019, with a Certified True Copy of Corporate Affairs Commission as far back as 2019 to prove this.”
A source at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation told FACTSHEET that several high ranking officials in the Tinubu administration were part of the ongoing “heist” in the ministry in the name of verification of past activities. The source said, “they are all involved, they all nominated companies and were all paid the same time, they just want to use that poor woman as a scapegoat.”