Sophia Michaels
Bayo Onanuga
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s aide, Bayo Onanuga, has dismissed reports that he verified a memo purportedly signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
According to reports, President Tinubu had, in a memo dated December 18, 2023, from the Office of Chief of the Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, given approval for the sum of three billion naira for the verification of the national social register was from the COVID-19 palliative fund.
The fund is said to be part of the infractions committed under the supervision of now-suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, which is currently under investigation.
Amidst the mixed reactions which greeted the purported memo, Punch had reported that Onanuga validated the authenticity of the document said to have originated from the office of the Chief of Staff.
Onanuga on Thursday issued a denial about verifying the document in circulation.
According to him, what he told the publication was that journalists and Nigerians should be patient and expect the outcome of the investigations by the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the allegations against Edu and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
Taking to his account on the X platform, he wrote: “Just for the records: I didn’t validate any document.
“A newspaper report claiming that I validated a document purportedly signed by the Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was false. I never said anything like that. What I said was that journalists and the general public should be patient and await the findings of the EFCC, which has been asked to investigate the alleged infractions in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.”
