N585 Million Scandal: Suspend Perm Sec Enitan, Directors Of Humanitarian Ministry – Adeyanju Tells Tinubu

An Abuja-based rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, has called on President Bola Tinubu to suspend the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan.

Adeyanju proposed that Enitan and all directors in the ministry should be dismissed to facilitate a comprehensive investigation.

Tinubu instructed Enitan to oversee the ministry after suspending the Minister in charge, Betta Edu, due to her alleged involvement in financial misappropriation.

Documents revealed that Edu had authorized the transfer of N585 million in social intervention funds to the private account of a civil servant.

After the revelation, Tinubu suspended Edu and instructed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the scandal thoroughly.

Nevertheless, Adeyanju criticized Tinubu’s choice to entrust the ministry to Enitan, suggesting that Tinubu might be aware of corrupt practices within the ministry.

The statement reads: “While politicians come and go, the permanent secretary is always there until he or she resigns.

“It is, therefore, highly unlikely that the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs was unaware of the corrupt practices that was going on in that ministry.

“The permanent secretary ranks only next to the Minister. How were these monies moved to private accounts without the knowledge of Mr. Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan, the permanent secretary?

“Whose duty was it to bring the minister abreast with the various civil service rules aimed at prohibiting corrupt practices? Can the permanent secretary truly deny knowledge of the sleaze that went down in that ministry, or is it a case of several person dipping their hands into the public purse, but only the person who was caught is called the thief?

“It is in the light of the foregoing that the decision by Mr. President to hand over the running of the ministry to the permanent secretary is, in my opinion, ill-advised. For a holistic investigation to be carried out in that ministry, as directed by Mr. President, the permanent secretary and all the directors must equally be suspended to determine their culpability, if any, in what has become a national embarrassment.

“The president is, therefore, urged to hand over the affairs of the ministry to any other permanent secretary in any other ministry, but not the present permanent secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.“