On Monday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended one of his seven-month-old cabinet members, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.
Her suspension was contained in a statement by presidential spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale, following controversies about financial transactions amounting to N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant, Oniyelu Mojisola, who is the accountant in charge of grants for Vulnerable Nigerians in her ministry.
However, the suspended minister had earlier justified her action, noting that she had not violated any law, alleging that she was being targeted for her stance against corruption.
However, Section 7(713) of Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009 stated that “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”.
Thus, criticism across Nigeria continued to heighten following the discovery of the memo. In the last couple of days, the media has been flooded with reports of Edu’s alleged scandal.
Edu allegedly issued a memo to the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, in December 2023 ordering her to pay the amount from the account of the National Social Investment Office into the civil servant’s private bank account identified as Bridget Oniyelu.
In the suspension statement, Tinubu also directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the ministry and agencies under its supervision.
Shortly after the suspension and the Presidential directive, the anti-graft agency invited Edu to appear before it in Abuja on Tuesday for a thorough investigation.
WHO IS EDU, THE SUSPENDED MINISTER?
Betta Chimaobim Edu was born October 27, 1986, and hails from Abi Local government area in Cross River State. She completed her secondary education in 2001 at the Federal Government Girls College, Calabar and obtained her first degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Calabar in 2009.
She has a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health for Developing Countries from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, a master’s degree in Public Health in Developing Countries from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and a Doctor of Public Health from Texila American University.
In 2015, Edu became the youngest person to be appointed Special Adviser to the Executive Governor of Cross River State Benedict Ayade on Community and Primary Healthcare.
In 2020, she became chairman of the Cross River State COVID-19 Taskforce and was later appointed National Chairman of the Nigeria Health Commissioners and then Commissioner for Health until her resignation in 2022.
Before her ministerial appointment in June 2023, Edu served as national women leader of the All Progressive Congress in 2022, becoming the youngest woman ever to hold that position in the party.
Edu is a Fellow of the Royal School of Public Health in and the African Institute of Public Health Professionals.
She was the first female minister from Cross River State and the youngest minister at the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria in the Fourth Nigerian Republic.
She was awarded with the Nigeria Quintessential Woman Award, by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, the Award of Excellence by the National Youth Council of Nigeria and Medical Expert of the Year all in 2020.
Edu also got an award of excellence in Gender inclusion, by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in 2023.
HER CONTROVERSIES
In 2020, Edu was accused of posting fake photos of ventilators when she was the Chairperson of the Cross River State COVID-19 Taskforce.
A vote of no confidence was passed on Edu over accusations of professional misconduct in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Similarly, in 2022, during her campaign to become National Women Leader of the APC, Edu was accused of procedural misconduct.
