I remember the days of President Buhari when Nigerians bemoaned the President’s inability or lack of courage to sack anyone, especially those accused of corruption in his administration. So, it was some breathe of fresh air when President Tinubu acted decisively in suspending Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, on allegations of corruption in the ministry.
Nigerians hailed Tinubu, as some will argue, rightly so, for being courageous in suspending the minister pending investigation into the allegations of corruption. However, this is four months since Dr Betta Edu was suspended, what’s going on?
If the investigations have been concluded and Dr Edu has been cleared of any wrongdoing, as it is being speculated in some quarters, why has this not been publicly disclosed? Why has she not been reinstated?
We have all seen several documents online pointing to the fact that any or every action she took, subject of the investigation, was approved by the Villa. If this is the case, the courageous president who suspended her must find that same courage to clear her of any wrongdoing.
There must be continuity in the President’s courage. It takes courage to suspend your minister, it takes courage to investigate her, it takes courage to prosecute her if she is culpable, it takes courage to declare that the investigation has found nothing wrong with her actions as minister and it takes courage to reinstate her.
If nothing is done, just as nothing is being done, then it will not be farfetched to conclude that what happened to Dr Betta Edu is political yahoo yahoo. She might just be a casualty of the Aso Rock game of thrones. But, if she could be a causality in this deadly game of thrones, scripted as it were, then the President is also a victim.
– By First Baba Isa, LLM, FIMC, CMC.