Tinubu Didn’t Summon Interior Minister Over Links With Betta Edu Controversy – Presidency

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo

The Tinubu-led presidency has dismissed reports circulating online that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was summoned for questioning at the Presidential Villa in Abuja in relation to links between him and a company said to be involved in the financial mismanagement involving the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.

It would be recalled that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is said to have given a consultancy contract to the tune of N438 million, for the National Social Register to New New Planet Projects Ltd, a company the interior Minister is linked to.

The Interior Minister had come under fire for alleged involvement in a 438.1 million consultancy contract from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

It was gathered that Tunji-Ojo has since left the Presidential Villa after a meeting with President Tinubu but he was silent about the purpose of the visit.

According to Vanguard, a presidency source has denied media reports that the minister was summoned over the scandal.

The source said, “We are too intelligent to be stupid.”

It is understood that the company, New Planet Project Limited, was one of the numerous consultants awarded contracts from N3 billion given out by the suspended minister for the National Social Register contract.

In a document posted by the editor of a media platform, Pointblank News, Jackson Ude, Tunji-Ojo’s New Planet Project Limited was initially paid N279 million for verification of the list and another N159 million for the same purpose.

But in an appearance on Politics Today on Monday, the minister refuted being a Director in the company, stressing that he resigned years ago from the company.

The minister added that he resigned from the company in 2019 and has no current link with the management of the company.