By Glam & Essence
These are not easy times for Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, following his links to the scandal unearthed at the Humanitarian Ministry, once headed by Betta Edu, who has already been suspended by President Bola Tinubu.
The President also suspended all programmes under the NSIP.
Tunji-Ojo’s company, New Planet Project, was named as one of the companies that benefited from Betta Edu,having been paid hundreds of millions of naira as consultancy fees for some work done for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
Calls for his suspension following this revelation and has trailed Tunji-Ojo, even after he has tried to explain that he had since resigned from New Planet.
According to him, he resigned from the company following his election into the House of Representatives in 2019,in accordance with the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.
Since the scandal broke, opinions on whether the Minister of Interior should resign has been divided, on account of
his work in reforming the problematic process of obtaining international passport in Nigeria.
While some believe he should be given the same treatment as Betta Edu, who has been suspended and is being investigated, there are those asking that he should be spared.
The minister has continued to maintain that he has done nothing wrong.
However, this is not the only time the minister has found himself roped in a scandal.
For instance, Tunji-Ojo was involved in the
NDDC off your mic scandal,when he was the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on NDDC in the 9th Assembly, and also faced corruption allegations during the probe of the NDDC under Daniel Pondei.
It would be recalled that Pondei staged a walkout during the investigation, stating that, “we are not comfortable with the chairman of this committee presiding over a matter he has been accused of.”
He added that ,“There is no point of order here. As long as he is the chairman of this committee, the NDDC will not make any presentation here.”
According to the NDDC, Tunji-Ojo’s company was also a beneficiary of some of the questionable contracts in the NDDC.
Subsequently, Tunji-Ojo was forced to recuse himself from that investigation due to the corruption allegations against him and his company.
Also during his ministerial screening, Tunji-Ojo also came under heat over his NYSC certificate,where allegation of certificate forgery was made against him following his claim to have concluded his NYSC in 2020,when he was well above the 30-year age limit.
Secondly, the date he was suppose to be serving at NYSC was about the same period he was in the National Assembly as a lawmaker.
Also,the certificate carried 2023 as the date of issuance.
Surprisingly,NYSC later “authenticated the genuineness” of the certificate, stating that Tunji-Ojo was initially mobilized in 2006,but absconded before the completion of the one year mandatory service.
the Senate went ahead to clear Tunji-Ojo and confirmed him as minister,despite the controversies that should have disqualified him.
Meanwhile, reports indicated that Tunji-Ojo was requested to appear before the Code Of Conduct Bureau on Tuesday 16.2023,at the CCB Headquarters,Abuja,on the invitation of the Bureau investigating a case of alleged breach of Conduct for public officers ,in which Tunji-Ojo’s name featured prominently,according to the letter signed by the CCB Director.
He,however failed to turn up,and has requested for a new date to honour the invitation.
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