Renowned Nigerian-American professor Farooq Kperogi has issued a scathing demand to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging the immediate dismissal of Minister Betta Edu from her role in the wake of a staggering N585,198,500.00 million corruption scandal.
The scandal erupted when Edu purportedly authorized the transfer of N585,198 million into a private account owned by Bridget Mojisola Oniyelu.
In a fiery essay shared via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Kperogi lashed out, warning that failure to promptly remove Edu would undermine the President’s anti-corruption stance.
Kperogi highlighted, “Unfortunately, some of the crimes Muhammadu Buhari’s people committed in his eight-year reign are reappearing now. It has now come to light, for example, that Betta Chimaobim Edu, the successor to Sadiya Umar Farouq, has started the same pattern of theft by her predecessor.
“In a leaked December 20, 2023, memo to the Accountant-General of the Federation, Edu instructed that money designated for “vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun and Lagos,” which amounted to more than N500 million, should be paid into the private UBA account of one Bridget Mojisola Oniyelu in violation of Nigeria’s public sector financial regulation law.
Citing section 713 of the act, Kperogi emphasized,“The regulation says public money should not, under any circumstance, be paid into private bank accounts. Any officer who pays public money into a private bank account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intentions.”
He delivered a damning ultimatum to Tinubu, stating, “This is a momentous moment for Tinubu. If he does not fire Edu forthwith and bring her to justice, he has already lost the moral high ground to try Muhammadu Buhari’s corrupt honchos.”
