By Ekuson Nw’Ogbunka, Abuja
The Apo Six Lawyer, Amobi Nzelu, has faulted the suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Dr. Betta Edu, saying that the person who should be suspended is the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, even as he warned against the danger of the old brigades in politics, scaring innocent youths like Edu from politics.
Dr. Betta Edu has been suspended by President Ahmed Tinubu and had her account frozen by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which has been investigating her for requesting that about N585 million be paid into a private account for the disbursement of palliatives to the poor Nigerian masses in some states of the federation.
Addressing journalists recently in his chamber on Thursday, Nzelu, popularly known as the Apo Six Lawyer (due to the role he played when some youths were allegedly murdered by the police in 2005 in Apo, Abuja), however, said that since the Account General of the Federation (AGF) confirmed that she didn’t carry out the request made by the Minister, with the reason that the law is against it, he is yet to see the reason why she should be suspended from office.
He said that if anybody should be suspended, it is the Minister of Interior, Tunji-Ojo for the role the company, in which he was a director, played in the whole thing. He was of the opinion that the fact that Tunji-Ojo resigned as the director of the company in 2019 was excusable at law, but he was quick to wonder why the consultancy should go to the same company.
He said, “I don’t see the offence she committed that warrants her suspension. She made an innocent request, and the Account General, of course, the Federation (AGF), which had the superintendent power, told her that it couldn’t be done. And she didn’t put pressure on her to do that. I don’t see the essence of her suspension.
“If the AGF said that she refused her request on the ground that it is undone, I don’t see the justification for her suspension. It is an innocent error that shouldn’t attract any form of punishment. She shouldn’t be sacrificed for political exigencies, either in form, manner, or guise.
“But the Minister of Interior can’t pretend to be unaware of the contract awarded to the company. It is under the law that the man can be protected, having resigned as the director of the company in 2019, but as far as this contract is concerned, he can’t say that he is ignorant of the contract. So if Edu should be suspended, Tunji-Ojo should be suspended too.
He continued: “Edu made the request for transferring N548 million into a private account and she should have known that career civil servants, sometimes like to develop blind eyes to put political office holders into trouble. For that, this 38 year old shouldn’t be sacrificed on the alter of transparency, or whatever you might call it.
“Are there no Permanent Secretary, Director of Finance, Special Assistant in that ministry to advise her properly. They shouldn’t draw her name to the mud. They shouldn’t use her as a guinea pig to experiment on the sincerity of purpose of the government in question. My heart bleeds for that young girl because she has made a name to be a minister, not for people to cut her good intension for this country.”
Amobi Nzelu therefore observed that it is the Permanent Secretary, the Director of Finance, her Special Assistant and all those who should have given her advice properly that deserve punishment, even as he added that investigation would show that she wasn’t the author of the letter.
Reiterating that the old brigades in politics shouldn’t dent the names of the youths, he maintained that if all these people, including the AGF warned her and she insisted, let it be.
Calling for the proper investigation of the former minister, Sadiya Umar-Farou, he wondered why somebody saddled with the responsibility of sharing palliatives to the people did that without data. For that, he said that the government hasn’t told Nigerians why the ministry was created.