Politics tamfitronics
The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, has ruled out any possibility of former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Betta Edu, returning to the government.
Onanuga, who featured in a Channels Television programme, Sunday Politics, said Edu’s sack from President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet was based on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) findings.
The former Cross River State health commissioner was suspended by the president in January over the alleged diversion of N585 million in public funds into a personal bank account.
She was also implicated in the release of N3 billion to verify the National Social Register during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Though Edu denied any wrongdoing, she was one of the ministers who was not retained in a cabinet reshuffle carried out by President Tinubu last week.
While answering a question on why there has been no official announcement on Edu’s sack, the presidential aide said she has been sacked as another person has been assigned her portfolio.
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He said: “Betta Edu is gone. She was suspended in January and this is October. She is gone. Her position has been taken over by somebody else.
“As far as this government is concerned, there is no place for her in that cabinet. The EFCC has not shared whatever they have but if you go by what the President has done, it shows that maybe the EFCC has submitted something that actually justified that suspension.
“If you go by what the President has done, it means the EFCC has said something, has revealed something that formed the basis for the President’s action.
“If she’s not coming back to the cabinet, it means she’s not part of it, especially if you didn’t see her name in the reshuffled cabinet.
“The President has the power to hire and fire, to appoint and reappoint whoever he wants to reappoint. If her name is not there, that means she’s not there. I don’t think there is anything to argue about.”
Beside her stint as commissioner for health in Cross River State, Edu also served as the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Women’s Leader.
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