The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has informed the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) that he would not be appearing before the Bureau on Tuesday for questioning over his link to New Planet Projects Limited and how the company allegedly got an N438 million consultancy contract from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
Truetells Nigeria on Monday reported that the CCB invited the minister to the bureau but the minister has now refused to honour the invitation, saying he would be on an official duty on Tuesday (today).
The Minister, therefore, requested the CCB authorities to reschedule the meeting and communicate the new date to his team.
Truetells Nigeria on January 8 reported that the company, New Planet Project Limited, linked to the minister, was paid a total amount of N438.1million by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation under suspended minister, Betta Edu, for consultancy services.
The company was one of the numerous consultants awarded contracts from N3 billion given out by the suspended minister for the National Social Register contract.
In a document obtained, Tunji-Ojo’s New Planet Project Limited was initially paid N279million for verification of the list and another N159 million for the same purpose.
An independent check by SaharaReporters revealed that the firm has the interior minister and his wife, Abimbola as directors.
One Gbadamasi Gbadamasi Clement is also listed as the secretary of the company which was registered on March 3, 2009, with registration number 804833.
The action is however against the Nigerian constitution and the Code of Conduct law.
The Code of Conduct law, in sections 5 and 6, bars public officers from putting themselves in positions of conflict of interest and prevents them from partaking in any business other than farming,
SaharaReporters had also reported that the Network for Growth and Actualization of Viable Development (NEFGAD), a public procurement advocacy group, faulted Tunji-Ojo’s defence over his involvement in the controversial N3 billion contracts awarded by the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
The minister had denied personally benefiting through his company from the N438.1 million from the alleged controversial N3 billion social register contracts given out by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.