By ADEYEMI ADELEYE

Mr Bola Babarinde, a former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in South Africa, said President Bola Tinubu should fish out accomplices of suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu.

Babarinde, also the deputy director of the Sanwo-Olu/Hamzat Campaign Council, Diaspora Directorate, in a statement on Thursday in Lagos, commended Tinubu for suspending the minister.

The president on Monday suspended Edu over alleged transfer of N585 million into a private account.

“I want to commend the president for his actions so far on corruption; zero tolerance policy, which will help Nigeria. This will definitely help our image and encourage investment inflow.

“The president should not relent on fishing out those bad eggs in his administration that are bent on tarnishing his image.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should deploy robust ICT system to channel payments directly to beneficiaries of his palliatives.

“Such novel innovation should be explored without further delay, enough of excuses to steal fund meant for millions of downtrodden and vulnerable Nigerians by few corrupt officials.

“This case must not be allowed to drag unnecessarily in anyway as it would determine how this administration would be portrayed in the fight against corruption,” Babarinde said.

The diaspora chieftain noted that the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda of the Tinubu-led government was derived from the aspiration of Nigerians for a better country.

He recounted that this was actually to relive the dashed hopes of Nigerians since the Hope 93 campaign of Chief MKO Abiola’s bid for the presidency.

Babarinde said that the agenda played a vital aspect in influencing the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in favour of APC and its candidate, Tinubu.

“Most Nigerians had lost hope in successive government for failing them as corruption is our bane, we swim in this deadly virus and gradually consuming us into extinction as a sane society.

“In fact, the amount of money people are stealing and publishing everyday are mind-blowing which sometimes look like fictions,” he said.

The APC chieftain noted the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 election based on his antecedent as champion of anti-corruption.

“It was the mantra of Renewed Hope that brought this very young administration to power and its now seems some individuals are bent on putting more efforts to derail it by circumventing the system to enrich themselves at all costs.

“These impunities are definitely an albatross to the present administration.

“With recent allegations and revelations of misconduct in the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA), it seems hope is gradually being eroded and lost in our country if decisive actions are not taken to reverse the trend,” he said.

He equally lauded Tinubu for suspending the Director of NSIPA, Halima Shehu, to allow for proper investigation and especially for obvious reason of championing integrity in the ministry.

Babarinde said: “The youths of this great country are being let down by these two individuals if finally found guilty.

“Whoever is found guilty, no matter how highly placed and any party or interest that wants to interfere with these cases should be exposed.

“This administration should not be dragged into the mud; we cannot afford these scandals to avoid Nigerians losing hope in the President.

“When individuals involved are dealt with, there must be an urgent need to upgrade and be serious about fixing our system and lay premium on enforcement of laws and improvement on the existing ones with loopholes which make them easy to circumvent.” (NAN)

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