Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has called for the resignation of Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, accusing her of betraying the trust placed in her. In a statement, Falana urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to expedite the investigation into the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and bring all those implicated to court.
He described the alleged involvement of Edu in the approval of a substantial sum of money to be transferred into a personal account as an “extremely embarrassing drama.” While Edu has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that there is a plot to tarnish her reputation, Falana criticized her for not addressing the issue of approving funds to a private account instead of directly transferring them to the intended beneficiaries. He emphasized that the minister should apologize and step down from her position for breaching the Public Service Rules and relevant laws.
Despite the Accountant-General of the Federation’s success in preventing the criminal diversion of N585.18 million from the public treasury, it is evident from the leaked memorandum of the Minister that the offense of attempting to commit a felony has already been committed.
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs has already gathered the individual bank accounts of all the vulnerable people, so there is no legal justification for diverting the mentioned sum of money to the vulnerable people in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos, and Ogun States.
