Sadiya Umar-Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development under former President Muhammadu Buhari will today face the detectives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged fraud to the tune of N37 billion.
The former minister was invited last week by the anti-graft agency following a probe that was launched into her activities in the ministry when she held sway in the last six years.
She was being probed over the sum of N37,170,855,753.44 that was allegedly laundered under her watch through a contractor, James Okwete.
Officials of the anti-graft agency told our correspondent on Tuesday that the former minister had earlier been asked to appear before interrogators at the EFCC headquarters located at Jabi, Abuja, by 10:00am.
The operatives explained that some other officials who worked with her had equally been invited for different days in order to provide an insight into how the affairs of the ministry were run in the last six years.
This is just as President Bola Tinubu has ordered immediate suspension of Halima Shehu as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
Tinubu has since replaced Ms Halima with Akindele Egbuwalo, the national N-Power programme manager, in acting capacity pending an investigation initiated into the activities of the embattled former head of the agency.
Daily Trust reports that NSIPA, which is responsible for managing critical programmes like N-Power and Conditional Cash Transfer, has been under scrutiny in recent times, with concerns raised about efficiency and effectiveness.
The agency is under the humanitarian affairs ministry.
Although, the reason Ms Shehu was suspended was yet to be made public up till the time of filing this report last night, an official of the EFCC told Daily Trust that the embattled NSIPA boss also has questions to answer.
When contacted, the spokesman of the anti-graft agency, Dele Oyewale, who did not deny or comment on the development, promised to get back to our correspondent.
He was yet to do so as at the time of filing this report last night.
The ex-minister’s travails
Former Minister Sadiya had last week Monday tweeted on her X handle that she was not involved in any fraudulent activities while she held sawy as supervisor of the humanitarian ministry.
She had said, “There have been a number of reports linking me to a purported investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission into the activities of one James Okwete, someone completely unknown to me.
“James Okwete neither worked for, nor represented me in any way whatsoever. The linkages and associations to my person are spurious. While I resist the urge to engage in any media trial whatsoever, I have however contacted my legal team to explore possible options to seek redress on the malicious attack on my person.
“I remain proud to have served my country as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with every sense of responsibility and would defend my actions, stewardship and programmes during my tenure whenever I am called upon to do so”, she had stressed.
Efforts to speak to the former minister yesterday on her scheduled appearance at the EFCC office today were not successful, as calls to her known telephone line did not go through and she did not respond to a text and WhatsApp messages as of press time.
