The presidency has dismissed the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, from its cabinet.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, confirmed the development in an interview with SaharaReporters on Thursday.
Recall that Edu was suspended in January 2024 over the alleged diversion of more than N585 million in public funds into a personal bank account.
Tinubu also asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to thoroughly investigate all the ministry’s financial transactions.
The investigation extended to the entire framework of Nigeria’s social investment programmes.
However, Edu has denied any wrongdoing.
Tinubu, in the list of new ministers released on Wednesday, replaced Betta Edu with a former gubernatorial candidate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Nentawe Yilwatda.
However, Tinubu was silent about the replacement as Edu’s name was not among the list of sacked ministers.
Speaking on why Betta Edu was not listed along with the names of other ministers dismissed by President Tinubu, as announced by the Presidency on Wednesday, Ajayi said, “Since the President did not bring her back, it is as clear as it is.
“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 yesterday.
“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.”
