Abuja, Jan. 11, 2023 – Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in 2023 elections, has urged President Tinubu to punish all those involved in the alleged N585 million scandal in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
He said all those found culpable in the alleged scandal involving the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, should be brought to book.
Obi, who gave the advice via his X-handle platform on Thursday, said the government should go beyond the suspension of the minister.
He described the situation as a welcomed development and urged the government to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the matter.
Obi said government must give the problem of public sector corruption the severe urgency it deserves.
He expressed disappointment that a ministry created in good faith to attend to the plight of the suffering masses is being turned into a conduit pipe to steal from the poor as seen in the current and previous ministers of the ministry.
“I like to add my voice with most Nigerians concerned about accountability in government and judicious use of public funds, to welcome the suspension of Edu, and subsequent directives for her investigation.
“The investigation must be comprehensive so that all those culpable are brought to book,” Obi, a former two-term Anambra governor said.
Cautioning against taking the issue lightly, Obi added that the suspension of the minister should not be a window-dressing action but should be a peg to get at all those who are deserving of blame, punished just like the minister.
“By a sad coincidence, the alleged fraudulent diversion of N585 million of public money by Edu broke almost at the same moment that the minister who held the same portfolio in the last administration is being investigated for a whopping N37 billion misappropriations.
“The ministry may have been created by the system as a conduit pipe to siphon public funds while using the poor as a face.
“Equally worrisome and disgusting is the fact that the missing funds are meant for poverty alleviation in a time of severe suffering among the people.
“Unfortunately, the ruling elites can shamelessly convert, divert, or misappropriate such huge sums meant for the poor and cannot be trusted to address the severe poverty ravaging the people.
“It is not only immoral but also insensitive for those entrusted with funds for public welfare to steal from the poor,” Obi said.
Obi called on the Tinubu administration to use these cases to initiate a thorough system-wide and systematic investigation of all reported cases of fraud and corruption among high government officials in the country. (GBN)
