Victor Ezeja
A former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, has expressed readiness to defend all her activities while in office, claiming that she carried out her jobs with “every sense of responsibility.”
Umar-Farouq’s comment posted on her x page (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday, was in reaction to reports linking her to a purported investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) into the activities of one James Okwete, identified as a contractor of the ministry, who was arrested by the Commission for allegedly laundering N37 billion.
Prime Business Africa reports that Umar-Farouq served as the pioneer Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari from 21 August 2019 to 29 May 2023.
There are reports indicating that EFCC uncovered N37,170,855,753.44 allegedly laundered in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs under the former Minister.
According to a report by Punch the money was transferred from the Federal Government’s accounts and sent to 38 different bank accounts domiciled in five commercial banks connected with Mr Okwete.
The report further indicated that that following receipt of the funds, Okwete allegedly transferred N6,746,034,000 to Bureau De Change operators, withdrew N540,000,000 in cash, purchased luxury cars with N288,348,600, and bought luxury houses in Abuja and Enugu State with N2,195,115,000.
It added that 53 companies were allegedly traced to Okwete out of which 47 of them were used to lift Federal Government contracts amounting to N27.4 billion.
The ex-Humanitarian Affairs minister however said that Okwete is unknown to her and therefore neither worked for nor represented her in any way whatsoever.
The statement titled, “The Attack on My Person,” read: “There have been a number of reports linking me to a purported investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) 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.”
The former minister disclosed that she has directed her legal team to explore possible options to seek redress over what she considered as an attack on her person.
“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 stated.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
