Betta Edu: Two (2) months after suspension, Tinubu, EFCC keep mum as Akpabio begs for ‘soft landing’

Two months after the suspension of Dr. Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Presidency have refused to brief Nigerians. 

While the EFCC has reportedly submitted an interim report of its investigation to the presidency, some influential people, including Senate President Godswill Akpabio are alleged to be mounting pressure on President Bola Tinubu to give her “a soft landing”.

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Although Edu’s backers do not mind if she gets another appointment outside her ministry, Halima Shehu, the suspended coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), appears to have been cleared by the EFCC in its interim report. 

Dele Oyewale, the spokesman of the EFCC refused to respond to SolaceBase enquiries when asked about the update from the anti-graft agency. 

Edu was enmeshed in controversy after a memo surfaced online, wherein she asked the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer the sum of N585 million to a private account.

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Thereafter, other documents where she made controversial approvals, including approving airfares to Kogi, a state without an airport, went viral, prompting the president to suspend her.

Apart from the EFCC probe, Tinubu directed that the panel led by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun should “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”.