Interior Minister opens up on getting contract from Betta Edu

President Bola Tinubu's minister of interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has responded to the allegation that his company, New Planet Project Limited, was awarded an N438.1 million contract by the suspended minister of humanitarian and poverty alleviation, Betta Edu.

In an interview on Channels Television on Monday, January 8, the minister said he founded the company about 15 years ago but resigned as its director after his election in 2019.

During the programme, the minister presented a CAC document indicating his resignation as a New Planet Project Limited director five years ago.

The minister said: "I have no business with it. I am not involved in the day-to-day of the company. I do not pursue jobs for the company. I do not bid for the company. I do not run the company, I am not a signatory to the company's account."

The minister's company was accused of being paid N438.1 million for consultancy services by the ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation under Betta Edu in a report by SaharaReporters.

The report said the New Planet Project Limited was one of the many consultants the suspended minister, Edu, who awarded the N3 billion National Social Register contract.

In his reaction, the minister said he did not have the right to speak for the company because he was no longer part of its hierarchy but noted that the company had the right to bid for contracts and could be sanctioned if it failed to do the job given to it.

'I am not a signatory to the company', Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo responds to the contract allegations linked with his former company and the ministry of humanitarian affairs. #PoliticsToday#CTVTweets pic.twitter.com/okXSFY2kV3

— Channels Television (@channelstv) January 8, 2024