Betta Edu: CCB summons Interior Minister over N438m contract

Eid-el-Fitr, Visa-on-arrival policy, New Year, Minister

The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has invited the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, over the involvement of his company in an alleged N438 million contract fraud in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

The CCB made the summon in a letter signed by its Director, Investigation and Monitoring, Gwimi S.P, on behalf of the CCB Chairman, Murtala Aliyu, and addressed to the minister.

The bureau, in the letter obtained on Monday, January 15, ordered Tunji-Ojo to appear before it on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, at the CCB Headquarters, Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja.

The letter read: “The bureau is investigating a case of alleged breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers in which your name featured prominently. Consequently, you are invited for an interview scheduled as follows:

“Date: Tuesday, 16th January, 2024. Time: 1100hrs prompt. Venue: CCB Headquarters on 5th Floor, Annex III, Phase I, Federal Secretariat Complex, Abuja.

“This invitation is pursuant to the mandate and powers of the Bureau as enshrined in the Third Schedule, Part I, Paragraph 3 (e) to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. Please be properly guided.”

A company, New Planet Projects, allegedly belonging to Tunji-Ojo, was alleged to have benefitted from a contract scam from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

The Star recalls that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), last week, started interrogating the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, over alleged N585 million fraud in the ministry.

President Bola Tinubu had earlier suspended the minister over the alleged payment of N585 million humanitarian funds meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Cross River, and Ogun states into a private account.

The Star