Suspended Minister, Betta Edu, Released On Bail To Report To EFCC Daily
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| Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs |
EFCC releases suspended minister Betta Edu on bail
Betta Edu, the minister of humanitarian affairs, was called by the EFCC on Monday to come to its Abuja headquarters on Tuesday to answer questions regarding her contentious approval of the transfer of approximately N585 million into a private account.
Betta Edu, the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, was freed on bail by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following hours of questioning regarding her approval of the transfer of approximately N585 million from the ministry into the personal account of a civil servant.
After the public expressed outrage on the matter, President Bola Tinubu suspended Mrs. Edu from office on Monday and directed the EFCC to look into the approval and other scandalous revelations.
She was promptly called by the EFCC to appear on Tuesday at its Abuja headquarters.
She accepted the invitation on Tuesday morning and was detained until that evening, at which point she was released on bond.
Mrs. Edu was freed on bond on Tuesday, as confirmed by EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, who spoke with our reporter on Wednesday. But Mr. Oyewale stayed silent about the terms and conditions.
“She was given a bail yesterday's night. I want to tell you that the investigation still continues,” Mr Oyewale asked.
When pressed to comment on the bail conditions and some details of the outcome of the questioning sessions that took place on Tuesday, Mr Oyewale said, “I cannot speak further on the details.”
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mrs. Edu was questioned by the EFCC on Tuesday morning.
According to NAN, who cited an extremely trustworthy source at the anti-graft agency, the suspended minister was present at the commission's headquarters on Tuesday morning.
“She is being interrogated by the commission and she is expected to give proper insight into the issue at hand,” the source said.
The source told NAN that after being freed on bail on Monday, Mrs. Edu's predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, the first minister of the ministry that was later dubbed the Ministry of Social Development, Disaster Management, and Humanitarian Affairs, returned to the commission on Tuesday for questioning.
Mrs. Umar-Farouk is under investigation for allegedly allowing officials of the ministry to launder a whopping N37.1 billion while she was a minister.
The source also informed NAN that the EFCC was still looking into Halima Shehu, the National Coordinator and CEO of the National Social Investment Program Agency who was suspended.
Ms. Shehu was in charge of managing the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, which former President Muhammadu Buhari started to assist individuals and groups in need.
The case of Betta Edu
The scandal was publicized, along with the approval of hundreds of millions of naira being paid into civil servants' personal accounts.
Nigerians have taken issue with Mrs. Edu for directing the transfer of N585.2 million into the personal bank account of a government employee who oversees grants for vulnerable Nigerians.
Documents leaked to the public revealed that Mrs. Edu ordered the payment of N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant who is the accountant in charge of Grants for Vulnerable Nigerians, a few days after ordering Ms. Shehu to be suspended for suspected financial impropriety.
According to a leaked memo, the minister asked Oluwatoyin Madein, the federation's accountant general, to move funds from the National Social Investment Office's account to Bridget Oniyelu's private account. Grants for Vulnerable Groups is a federal government poverty intervention project that falls under Mrs. Edu's ministry.
The request is against several provisions of Nigeria's 2009 Financial Regulations, which are designed to stop corruption and other types of fraud in government-related operations.
Speaking on Friday through her media assistant Rasheed Zubair, Mrs. Edu emphasized that the act is legitimate within the nation's civil service. She claimed that because of her opposition to corruption, she was being singled out.
Nonetheless, Nigeria's Financial Regulations 2009, Chapter 7, Section 713, stipulates that “Personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private account.”
It also added that “Any officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so fraudulent intention.”
The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, on Saturday distanced herself from the controversy adding that her agency had advised the ministry of the proper mode of such transfers.
Presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale announced Mrs. Edu's suspension by Mr. Tinubu in a statement on Monday. She said the president took the action in accordance with his vowed commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability in the management of the Nigerian Commonwealth.
A panel headed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and the Minister of Finance was also tasked by the president with performing a thorough diagnostic of the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programs, among other duties.
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