The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has denied being a director in the company that got a consultancy service contract from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Reports emerged soon after the suspension of Betta Edu that she paid a company allegedly owned by Tunji-Ojo a total amount of N438.1 million for consultancy services.
The company, New Planet Project Limited, was one of the numerous consultants awarded contracts from N3 billion given out by the suspended minister for the National Social Register contract.
In a document posted by the editor of a media platform, Pointblank News, Jackson Ude, Tunji-Ojo’s New Planet Project Limited was initially paid N279 million for verification of the list and another N159 million for the same purpose.
However, a source told SaharaReporters that the interior minister may have got the contract through his former aide and coordinator of the National Programme Manager, Grant For Vulnerable Groups, Thalis Apalowo.
Apalowo served as a legislative aide to Tunji-Ojo while he was representing Akoko North Federal constituency at the National Assembly.
But in an appearance on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, the minister denied being a Director in the company, stressing that he resigned years ago from the company.
Tunji-Ojo added that he resigned on the 1st of February, 2019 from the company and has no link with the management of the company.
He said: “Almost five years ago I resigned as director of the company, so I’m not a director. I resigned on the 1st of February, 2019, you can go to the back.”
He insisted he has no input in the day-to-day running of New Planet Project Limited and no longer a signatory to its accounts even if he is still a shareholder.