Here are seven politicians who have been suspended over financial fraud in recent times.
Nigerian politicians and political appointees have a reputation for not resigning or stepping aside when they are caught in a web of scandal until they are suspended.
Here are seven politicians and political appointees who have been suspended over financial fraud in recent times.
Betta Edu
Following the widespread criticism of the alleged ₦585 million palliative scandal involving her, President Bola Tinubu suspended the 37-year-old Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation on Monday, January 8, 2024.
The suspension of the youngest minister in Tinubu’s cabinet was not surprising because many Nigerians asking for a proper investigation of the scandal had called for it.
While announcing her suspension, the president urged her to cooperate with the investigating authorities.
If after the investigation the pendulum swings against her, that might be the end of Edu in Tinubu’s cabinet.
Godwin Emefiele
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was the biggest political casualty of 2023.
Barely two weeks into his administration, President Bola Tinuibu suspendend Godwin Emefiele over alleged procurement fraud and other criminal allegations.
He was subsequently detained by the Department of State Services before he was arraigned at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Abdulrasheed Bawa
Days after Emefiele’s suspension, Tinubu’s axe fell on the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Bawa was suspended on June 14, 2023, following “weighty allegations of abuse of office” levied against him.
Before his suspension, the immediate-past governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, had accused Bawa of demanding $2 million as a bribe from him, but the EFCC boss denied the allegation.
Babachir Lawal
In April 2017, former president, Muhammadu Buhari, suspended his Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) over alleged ₦544m fraud.
Six months later, the president sacked Lawal after the investigating panel recommended that the SGF be prosecuted for allegedly awarding contracts through the Presidential Initiative on North-East to a company in which he had an interest.
Hadiza Bala Usman
The former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) was asked to step aside in May 2021, following a lingering conflict between her and the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
Before then, Amaechi had written a letter to the president accusing the NPA of not remitting an “Operating surplus of ₦165 billion to the consolidated revenue fund account from 2016 till date.”
He urged Buhari to approve an audit of the account and remittance of the NPA for the period.
According to reports, Amaechi did not immediately succeed in his move to get Usman suspended, but he eventually prevailed on Buhari after painting a picture of impropriety at the NPA.
Halima Shehu
Three months after the confirmation of her appointment, President Tinubu suspended the National Coordinator and CEO of the National Social Investment Program Agency over alleged financial misappropriation.
Shehu was said to have moved ₦17 billion from NSIPA accounts within a week from the agency’s account.
She was thereafter arrested and detained amid the ongoing investigation into the ₦37,170,855,753.44 allegedly laundered in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, under former minister, Sadiya Umar-Farouk.
Ahmed Idris
In 2022, the former Accountant-General was indefinitely suspended to allow for a proper and unhindered investigation into the serious financial allegations against him.
Subsequently, the EFCC arrested Idris in Kano over an alleged ₦80 billion fraud.
Oftentimes, the suspension does them no good because in most cases, it forces them to disappear from the political scene and consequently renders them politically irrelevant.
