The Presidency has denied media reports that President Bola Tinubu summoned the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, for questioning at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Reports earlier emerged that Tunji-Ojo was summoned to answer questions about a company said to be involved in the financial mismanagement of the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is said to have given a consultancy contract of over N438 million, for the National Social Register to New Planet Projects Ltd, a company the interior Minister has strong interests in.
The Interior Minister had come under fire for alleged involvement in a 438.1 million consultancy contract from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Reports add that Tunji-Ojo has since left the Presidential Villa after a meeting with President Tinubu but he was silent about the purpose of his visit.
According to Vanguard, a presidency source has denied media reports that the minister was summoned over the scandal.
The source said, “We are too intelligent to be stupid.”
The company, New Planet Project Limited, was one of the numerous consultants awarded spurious 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.
But in an appearance on Politics Today on Monday, the minister denied being a Director in the company, stressing that he resigned from the company since 2019.
The minister added that since he resigned from the company has no current link with the management of the company.
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