*Says Tinubu not Gbajabiamila approved N3b
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
“Thankfully, one of the official spokesmen of the President, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, has clarified that, indeed, the N3bn was approved by the president himself and not by Gbajabiamila.”
A presidential aide has reportedly dismissed the allegations emanating from a leaked memo implicating the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, in financial transactions with the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.
The DEFENDER had reported earlier that the leaked memo, dated December 18, 2023, revealed President Bola Tinubu’s approval of N3 billion from the COVID-19 Palliative Fund to verify the National Social Register, suggesting therefore that the minister did not act alone.
Speaking anonymously in a report posted on the Facebook page of Daily Times of Nigeria, however, the presidential aide stated that the leaked memo was part of a larger plot by individuals within and outside the Presidential Villa seeking to connect Gbajabiamila to the ongoing controversy surrounding Edu’s suspension.
The unnamed aide clarified that the Chief of Staff’s role is to convey the president’s approval or disapproval to Cabinet members and institutions, following established procedures.
His words, “The CoS did not convey his own personal approval. He conveyed approval of his boss; it’s the practice with Abba Kyari and others that the Chief of Staff conveys approval or otherwise of the President to Cabinet members and institutions that might have requested one or two things from the president.
“The current Chief of Staff has not faced twenty per cent of the attacks one of his predecessors, Abba Kyari, got over the wrong allegations. President Tinubu’s verdict on his Chief of Staff’s integrity is known to public.
“The latest memo that came out was just an attempt by some persons within and outside the Villa to tie Gbajabiamila to the Betta Edu investigation.
“Thankfully, one of the official spokesmen of the President, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, has clarified that, indeed, the N3bn was approved by the president himself and not by Gbajabiamila.
“For the sake of clarity, it is not out of place for the president via his chief of staff to raise a memo to approve N3bn for verification of 11 million people inherited from the social register of the last administration based on official request from the minister.
“N3 billion divided by 11 million means each person was verified at about N273 only. So the media trial of the President and his Chief of Staff is of no effect”.
“It is left for the humanitarian affairs ministry to prove the exercise was indeed conducted.
“However, the intention of those who released the memo was to soil Gbajabiamila’s name. The president will rely solely on the outcome of the investigation team he already set up on the Humanitarian ministry.”
President Tinubu, during a Federal Executive Council meeting on October 30, 2023, had expressed unwavering confidence in Gbajabiamila and passed a vote of confidence in him.
“I have absolute confidence in my Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila. So, all campaign of calumny, the buck stops here! If I make mistakes, I’ll own up to them,” the president had said.
It will be recalled that Edu, like the presidential aide’s latest defence of Gbajabiamila, had taken to social media painting the revealed fraud against her as a plot to tarnish her image and had remained for a little longer in office thenceafter until pressures mounted by the President to investigate with a view to removing and prosecuting her, if found guilty.
She was subsequently suspended and handed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for probe. Since then, more untold stories and revelations have been made public to show that the lady Minister did not act alone.
Among these was the involvement of the Minister of the Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, whose company was alleged to have benefited from the Betta Edu’s N3 billion fraud.
The latest being the leaked memo that showed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, himself, approved the N3 billion and that his Chief of Staff, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, communicated the presidential approval to Betta Edu.
