THE NATION
The Civil Society Coalition for Transparency in Governance (CISCOTIG) has rubbished attempts to drag the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Chief Femi Gbajabiamila, into the probe of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
In a statement co-signed by its convener Comrade Michael Sunday Emaluji and Adebayo Lion Ogorry, its secretary and spokesman, the group said Gbajabiamila has no case to answer.
“We have seen tenuous analyses that concluded Gbajabiamila’s guilt simply because he was listed as Betta Edu’s reference on the CV used for her confirmatory screening before the Senate,” the statement said.
“Some surmised that the Chief of Staff was part of the transactions because he is reportedly of the same political sub-bloc as some people who have been insinuated to be connected with the issue. These conjectures have been made to gain ground even though those behind them are aware that they do not have the facts to back up these claims.
“But the most outlandish of these claims is the one that comically concluded that the Chief of Staff is complicit in the transactions being investigated because he forwarded the memo containing President Tinubu’s approval to the suspended Minister for the release of N3 billion for the verification of the National Social Register compiled by the former administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
“We find it odd that those alluding to wrongdoing on the part of the Chief of Staff for forwarding Mr President’s approval are conveniently befuddling the truth, which is that it is the responsibility of that office to convey all such approvals to the receiving Ministry, Department or Agency.
“It is simply the administrative workflow that has been established over the years. To accuse the Chief of Staff in the manner they are going about at the moment is to say that he should not do his job, which also implies that all approvals from Mr President would be stuck in the State House and governance would ground to a halt…
