Northern Ethnic Group Assembly (NEYGA) has described reports linking transactions carried out by the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu to Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila as a hatchet job meant to ridicule the former speaker of the House of Representatives.
The group alleged that those behind the hatchet job were some hawks within and outside the Presidential Villa, who were scheming to take over the job of Gbajabiamila.
Recall that a leaked memo dated December 18, 2023, from the Office of Chief of Staff to the President revealed that President Bola Tinubu had approved three billion naira from the COVID-19 Palliative Fund for verification of the National Social Register.
The memo had sparked outrage among some Nigerians on social media.
Reacting to the leaked memo, the group in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Ibrahim Dan-Musa, Wednesday said “distractors have failed in their plot against against the engine rooms of Tinubu administration”.
According to the group, the latest memo was just an attempt by some persons within and outside the Villa to tie Gbajabiamila to the Betta Edu investigation.
While commending the president for dismissing Edu, the group wondered how the Chief of Staff can assume the position of authority, urging politicians to learn tolerance instead of engaging in a direct campaign of calumny.
Ibrahim asserted that mischief-makers are blinded by illiteracy behind the campaign of calumny against Gbajabiamila, adding zhat such memos would continue to circulate, with Gbajabiamila as the prime target.
The statement read: “To say Gbaja is an authority in law and a professor in government procedures is not an overstatement.”
“It is clear some people are still seeking the downfall of one of the best brains in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, but they have failed.”
“Someone who managed 360 elected representatives of the Federal House of Representatives for a solid four years without a blemish will not fall for a peanut. Detractors do not understand the quality and value of Femi Gbajabiamila.
“The Chief of Staff has crossed the bridge before it collapsed, so what they are pursuing is emptiness the second day after the Market day!
“We, the concerned citizens for good governance, will soon expose all of you behind the evils you planned.
“It is now an open secret that you want the government of President Bola Tinubu to fail by trying to pull down the pillars of support behind him.
“Whether you are a Christian or Muslim, whatever you sow, you shall reap. We will go after all of you and expose you to the world.
“The current Chief of Staff has not faced twenty per cent of the attacks one of his predecessors, Abba Kyari, got over wrong allegations. President Tinubu’s verdict on his Chief of Staff’s integrity is known to the public.”
