Interior Minister denies receiving contract from Edu, Humanitarian Ministry

Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has denied receiving a contract award from the embattled Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu and the Ministry.

There had been speculations that Tunji Ojo was a beneficiary of the N583 million scandal recently rocking the ministry through the New Planet Project Limited that got a consultancy contract from the ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation.

However, the Minister yesterday stated that he resigned years ago from the company.

Tunji-Ojo spoke on Monday when he appeared on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, to clear the air on the allegations.

“Almost five years ago I resigned as director of the company, so I’m not a director. I resigned on 1st of February, 2019, you can go to the back,” he said.

The company was registered on March 3, 2009 at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) – 10 years before he was first elected as a house of representatives member.

Tunji-Ojo represented Akoko North-East/Akoko North-West federal constituency in Ondo state between 2009 and 2023 before he was appointed as interior minister by President Bola Tinubu.

The Interior Minister’s name was mentioned in the crisis that has been rocking the humanitarian ministry.

Betta Edu, the suspended minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, has come under scrutiny after a cache of documents were leaked wherein she made an “illegal request” to transfer N858 million to a private bank account and approved flight fares for her ministry staff to Kogi state which has no airport.

Edu said her request followed “due process” but Oluwatoyin Madein, accountant-general of the federation (AGF), to whom she had made the request to transfer the aforementioned sum, said she did not execute it.

Madein said public funds should not be paid into any private bank account as requested by the minister.