A lawyer, public affairs analyst and erstwhile presidential aide, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, has revealed reasons why the embattled Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, cannot be exonerated from the alleged diversion of public funds by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.
In a recent engagement with Akinademola Emmanuel, of Citizen Rapporteur, Obla, who hails from Cross River State, fingered the Interior Minister in the facilitation of a huge sum of N438m consultancy contract to a company he claimed to have founded and still has a substantial interest in.
While claiming the Interior Minister does not have to be directly linked with the awarded contract before being brought to book, he said: “Ethically, it is wrong; and you know that even though when we are talking about ethics, we are talking about morals, and we used to say moral is a variable concept. What may be moral in a given society may not be moral in another society.
“In this case, if you look at the provisions of the Code of Conduct enshrined in the 5th Schedule (Part 1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The Code of Conduct is intended to maintain ethical standards and moral rectitude in public service. Part-1 of the 5th Schedule says: “No public officer should do anything that will be in conflict with his duties and schedules.
“So, when a Minister of the Federal Republic such as Tunji-Ojo set out to use a company that he has substantial interest in – a company where he is a shareholder. A company that his wife leads as a Managing Director to bid for a contract in a ministry that is under the control of his colleague in the cabinet. Then, the whole thing becomes a case of conflict of interests.
“The conflict of interests here is in relation to his office as the Minister of the Federal Republic and also being a shareholder in a company that bided and got a contract. There is an assumption that he used his influence as a minister to prevail on his colleague to award that contract to his company”.
“He cannot be excluded, or exonerated, simply because he said he recused from the directorship of that company in 2019. He admitted that he kept his shareholding.
“Who is a shareholder? A shareholder is one of the owners of a company, and he is entitled to dividends at the end of every financial year. Companies that had made profits distribute, share to shareholders.”
“At the end of the year, Minister Tunji-Ojo would likely be a beneficiary of the profits that his company has earned and arising from the contract that he got from Minister Betta Edu, who is his colleague in the Council of Ministers of the Federation of Nigeria”.
On being asked if Tunji-Ojo has been directly linked with the awarded contract, he said: “You don’t need to be directly linked to the awarded contract to be held liable. We also have the law of aiding and abetting conspiracy. He was involved directly and indirectly because he admitted to be a shareholder and that the wife is a managing director of the company”.
“Incidentally, it is the same company that was awarded the contract. A contract that was awarded by his colleague in the cabinet. It is very suspicious. If investigation establishes that he used his influence to prevail on his colleague to award that contract to his company. Then, he is involved directly or indirectly”, he further stated.
