Some groups of people with disabilities (PWDs) have floated a platform to lobby for the allegedly fraudulent Halimat Tejuosho to replace Betta Edu as minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation.

Since the beginning of the year, various PWDs have turned regular protesters in some states, including Kano and Abuja, all in a bid to lubricate the way for Tejuosho to occupy the vacant ministerial position.

“We are demanding that Mr. President listen to us. This time, we are begging for him to recommend and appoint a mother who cares for persons with disabilities. She is a humanitarian person by birth,” a PWD said in a video ViableTV uploaded on March 6. “We want her in that position. We are pleading that you give us a chance by recommending our mother, Ambassador (Doctor) Halimat Adenike Tejuosho. She is the most qualified for that position. Anything trusted in her will be delivered.”

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Back in January, the national leadership of the PWDs in Nigeria led a protest in Abuja where Muhammed Dantani, its national secretary, drummed support for Tejuosho to replace Edu, who was suspended in January over a financial scandal.

TEJUOSHO’S ALEGED CONTRACT SCAM

In December 2022, Justice A.S. Adepoju of the Gwagwalada division of the Federal Capital Territory High Court ordered the service of court briefs in suit number FCT/HC/CV/589/2022 on Tejuosho and her company, Haleems Nigeria Limited.

Several news reports stated that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs gave a project to construct 500 housing units to Tejuosho’s company. She got the buy-in of Emmanuel Suku to provide funds for the project’s execution. Suku then provided a total of N436,325,000 and another $21,500 to power the construction.

Shortly after receiving the initial funding, Suku claimed in court papers, Tejusoho stopped responding to his phone calls. His personal investigation showed that Tejuosho did not do any work at the site.

Upon police’s involvement, it was found that she had lavished the money on buying exotic vehicles worth over N150 million, including a white Mercedes Benz GLE 450 SUV, a 2018 model Range Rover Sport, a Toyota Prado SUV and a Toyota Hilux truck.

In his application before the court, Suku said, “The detailed investigation report had established a case of advance fee fraud, criminal diversion of funds, criminal breach of trust and cheating against Tejuosho and recommended her for prosecution.”

Tejuosho had, however, denied the allegation, according to Mediatracnet, an online news website.

“Everybody that knows me know I love good cars. I have Porshe, Bentley and all, because I work so hard,” she was quoted as saying. “We have to get to a certain milestone before we start settlement. I told him before we can achieve that milestone, we were going to spend about N500 million. Before he came into the project, I has already invested a lot.”

“The groundbreaking was done on the 500 units of land I purchased by myself for the project (250 hectares each for Phases 1 and 2). We had erected the gatehouse before he came into the picture. I said I had N200 million, and he said he can bring N300 million.

“We entered into an agreement for four years, starting from November 2021 to November 2024. The agreement did not state I will be doing a refund for him. He is an investor. The agreement said we were going to share profits after four years in the ratio of 70:30. My company takes 70 percent and he takes 30 percent.

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“He knows my house. He knows I know a lot of people. I facilitated a lot of awards from him. We even went to Dubai together in May 2022, where I was invited for a Model United Nations event and I put his name be one of the guest speakers.”

She attributed the eventual termination of the contract to Suku. She also accused him of using the police to harass her.