Former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi has called for investigation of reported cases of fraud and corruption involving government officials in the country.
Obi who was reacting to the diversion of funds by the now-suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, said the government should go beyond the suspension of the minister and carry out a comprehensive investigation into the matter by giving public sector corruption the severe urgency it deserves.
The former Labour Party presidential candidate, on his X-handle platform, expressed disappointment that a ministry created in good faith to attend to the plight of the suffering masses is being turned into a conduit pipe to steal from the poor.
He welcomed the suspension of Edu as minister, and subsequent directives for her investigation, but added that “While the action of the government is a welcome development, the investigation must be comprehensive so that all those culpable are brought to book.”
Obi warned that Edu’s suspension should not be a mere window-dressing action but should be a peg to get at all those who are deserving of blame are punished just like the minister.
The former governor noted that the allegation that the minister who held the same portfolio in the last administration was being investigated for a whopping N37 billion misappropriation broke at the same time as the alleged fraudulent diversion of Edu’s N585 million of public money.
According to him, “The ministry may have been created by the system as a conduit pipe to siphon public funds while using the poor as a face.
“Equally worrisome and disgusting is the fact that the missing funds are meant for poverty alleviation in a time of severe suffering among the people.
“Unfortunately, the ruling elites can shamelessly convert, divert, or misappropriate such huge sums meant for the poor (and) trusted to address the severe poverty ravaging the people.
“It is not only immoral but also insensitive for those entrusted with funds for public welfare to steal from the poor.
“I call on the administration to use these cases to initiate a thorough system-wide and systematic investigation of all reported cases of fraud and corruption among high government officials in the country.”
