Betta Edu: Full List of Ministers Sacked, Suspended Since 1999

Betta Edu, the suspended minister of humanitarian and poverty alleviation, has increased the number of ministers that were either sacked or suspended by the sitting president to 17 since the return of democracy in the country.

Legit.ng journalist Bada Yusuf is an accomplished politics and current affairs editor, boasting over seven years of experience in journalism and writing.

Since 1999, Nigeria has had five presidents, including President Bola Tinubu, and at one point or the other, one or two of their ministers had to leave, The Nation reported.

President Tinubu suspended Edu over her signature in a letter ordering the payment of the contract to a private account. The president also ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the suspended minister.

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The former presidents before Tinubu were Muhammadu Buhari, Goodluck Jonathan, Umar Musa Yar'Adua, and Olusegun Obasanjo.

Below are the names of ministers who were either sacked or suspended:

Barth Nnaji

Contrary to the impression created by the then presidency under Goodluck Jonathan that the then Minister of Power, Barth Nnaji, resigned from office on his own volition, Nnaji was tactically forced to resign following a gale of allegations linking him with attempts to subvert the bidding process for the sale of Afam Power plant.

Former President Jonathan was said to have asked the minister to resign rather than sack him to save his administration the monumental embarrassment such an action could generate.

Michael Aondoakaa

Aondoakaa was appointed Attorney-General and Minister of Justice by late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on July 26, 2007.

In 2010, Goodluck Jonathan, the acting president at the time, removed him in controversial circumstances.

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Betta Edu: EFCC seizes Tinubu, Buhari's ministers' passports, gives reason

Fabian Osuji

President Olusegun Obasanjo dismissed Osuji in March 2005 following his indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly offering N55 million ($400,000) in bribes to the National Assembly to pass an inflated budget.

Stella Oduah

Oduah was sacked because of the various controversies and scandals trailing her.

Oduah was removed in February 2014 as the Minister of Aviation by former President Goodluck Jonathan over corruption allegations.

Subsequently, on December 17, 2020, the EFCC filed 25 counts accusing Oduah and the eight others of money laundering.

Prof. Adenike Grange

Adenike Grange and the then minister of state in the Ministry of Health, Gabriel Aduku, bowed to pressure and bade an unwilling farewell to the cabinet of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua over a N300m scam.

She was investigated by the EFCC and stood trial. She claimed that her directors had misadvised her. The President had reportedly directed that all unspent money in the budget be returned, but officials of the Health Ministry allegedly shared it as bonuses.

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She resigned from office on March 26 2008.

N438m consultancy fee: ‘It’s all good’, Tunji-Ojo says, walks out of Aso Villa

Legit.ng earlier reported that President Bola Tinubu's minister of interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who was summoned to the presidential villa barely 24 hours after his counterpart in the humanitarian ministry, Betta Edu, was suspended, has commented.

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BREAKING: Tinubu's interior minister speaks after Aso-Villa's summon over N438m contract from Betta Edu

While leaving the presidential villa, the minister was approached by journalists for an interview but said all was for good.

Tunji-Ojo was accused of getting an N438m consultancy fee through the company he founded but had resigned as its director since he joined politics.

Source: Legit.ng