Former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu and former chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Ngozi Olejeme have been appointed as members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2027 presidential campaign council.
It was learned that the APC unveiled the campaign council on Saturday with the former Zamfara State Governor and serving senator, Abdulaziz Yari as Director-General while the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma was named Secretary.
Edu and Olejeme were assigned roles in the campaign structure despite having been previously mired in allegations and investigations relating to financial misconduct.
Director of Women’s Mobilization, Edu, No. 97 on the campaign council list.
Her appointment comes more than two years after President Bola Tinubu suspended her as minister of humanitarian affairs over a controversial financial transaction.
Tinubu suspended Edu on January 8, 2024, following the emergence of a memo in which she purportedly requested the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer ₦585 million into a private account.
The President later ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to look into the ministry’s financial transactions.
EFCC officials later quizzed Edu at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
The development also resulted in the suspension of programs under the National Social Investment Program Authority (NSIPA) for six weeks as the Federal Government began a probe into alleged irregularities surrounding the agency.
In April 2024, the EFCC stated that it had recovered N30bn linked to its probe of activities at the ministry of humanitarian affairs.
The commission also revealed that it was probing some 50 bank accounts in the course of the investigation.
In October 2024, Edu was eventually dismissed from the Federal Executive Council.
Tinubu later replaced her in the ministry with Nentawe Yilwatda, now the APC national chairman, in a cabinet reshuffle.
Five days after the reshuffle, the President’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed that Edu was no longer in the cabinet.
“There is no more place for her in that cabinet as far as this government is concerned,” Onanuga said.
When asked about the outcome of the investigation of the former minister, the presidential spokesman said the EFCC had not made its findings public.
Read Also: Full List: Tinubu Names Members of APC 2027 Presidential Campaign Council
Olejeme Gets South-South Job
Olejeme, who is number 37 on the campaign council list, has been appointed South-South Zonal Director for Election Planning, Coordination and Mobilization.
The appointment is coming as she has a pending EFCC instituted money laundering case.
In October 2025, the anti-graft agency arraigned the former NSITF board chairman before a Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged ₦1 billion money laundering.
She was accused of eight counts of alleged conversion, transfer, procurement and possession of proceeds of unlawful activities.
The EFCC had accused Olejeme of diverting funds belonging to the NSITF between 2012 and 2015 when she was the chairman of the agency’s board.
After the plea, prosecution counsel, Emenike Mgbemele, asked for a trial date and informed the court that EFCC intended to call 14 witnesses.
Justice Emeka Nwite later released Olejeme to her lawyer and adjourned the matter to November 17 for hearing of her bail application.
She was wanted by the EFCC in September 2017 on charges bordering on “criminal conspiracy, abuse of office, diversion of public funds and money laundering” involving about ₦69 billion.
In July 2020, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the interim forfeiture of 48 properties reportedly linked to the former NSITF chairman, three years after the investigation.
She was also arraigned on nine counts before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in October 2021.
