•He went to brief Tinubu on online passport portal -Aide
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Twenty four hours after the suspension of Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, over transfer of N585.2 million from public account into a private account of an official in her ministry, Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was sighted at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday.
His appearance in Aso Villa was the subject of conflicting accounts; some claimed he was summoned by President Bola Tinubu to clarify certain controversy, while others insisted he was there for a standard ministerial visit.
It remained unclear if he met with the president, who had to postpone a number of his Tuesday appointments due to other urgent matters, such as new information from the Niger Republic, where the military coup had freed some of the family members of the ousted president from custody.
At least three other ministers including Hanatu Musawa (Arts and Creative Economy), Shuaibu Audu (Steel Development) and Adebayo Adelabu (Power) were in the villa but were unable to meet with the president because of his busy schedule.
However, when asked to comment on the controversy, Tunji-Ojo simply told correspondents: “We are too intelligent to be stupid.”
However, Babatunde Alao, media aide to the minister said contrary to news flying on the social media space, Tunji-Ojo visited the seat of power to brief President Tinubu on the outcome of recently launched online passport portal.
He added that there was nothing like summoning.
“The minister only visited Aso Rock to keep an earlier scheduled meeting with President Tinubu. The sensational social media headline that says the minister was summoned to Aso Rock was quite misleading and should be discountenanced by Nigerians.”
The Interior minister had denied any involvement in any contract awarded to New Planet Project Limited that he co-founded.
He had explained in an interview on Monday night on Channels Television that he was no longer involved in the running of the firm having resigned as a director in 2019.