By Uche Obi

The drama emanating from the allegations and counter allegations over the reported authorisation of payment to the tune of N585m by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, have treated citizens to plethora banters. The incidence has raised both dent and dust as much as I has raised far reaching questions.

Edu has called the allegation spurious, although she has been under heavy attacks for the supposed misdeed, or what some persons impliedly tagged unethical action, moreso since the memo wherein a directive was given to the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to effect the payment surfaced within the public space. Edu vehemently denounced and described all as a delibrate plot by mischief makers to out him and, in the course, smear the government in which she currently serves.

In her analysis, minister Edu has explained how the approval was given in good faith. She also gave tenable reasons as justifications for the circumstance of approval, which includes guarding the public funds from falling into the usual conduits and never reaching the needy for which they are meant. Her side of the story portrays how those who have seem to have been gated from profiting from the drain pipes are infuriated and subsequently out to take a pound of flesh.

In a way, the drama is waking up the ghost of similar impression; the controversial incidence that short-lived the ministerial assignment Ogun born Kemi Adeosun, the nation's former minister of finance who was taken out of office at the time the country was enjoying her peak of prowess for an offence she did not commit in person. And, in Edu's case, the speed with which the said memo was let out to the public reeks of desperation by certain faceless forces who all along have been waiting for her fall by any means possible.

In Edu's words, she has, in the course of her work, encountered resistance from forces whose hands may not be clean. She said the claims are baseless and an attempt to undermine the efforts government is making to fight corruption and uplift those in need. She stressed that her commitment to transparency, accountability, and eradicating corruption remains unwavering, and that the challenges would only strengthen her resolve to serve with integrity and dedication.

Edu had asserted in a rather categorical tone: "Under my leadership at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, there will be no embezzlement of government funds. Any attempts to tarnish the image of this administration, myself, or the Ministry will be futile." This is a resolve that should be encouraged by well meaning Nigerians, lest desperate mark erasers typically have their way.

This business by decoy, of subtly plotting the fall of the country's gifted hands appears to be a lucrative one for its sponsors and players. The other day, it was the President's Chief of Staff, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, whom they blackmailed unsuccessfully. It took the president's professed confidence in his Chief of Staff to shut down the left-handed game.

In the same vein, when weighed against the circumstances under which Adeosun walked into the trap emplaced by those she thought were friends and patriots, a credulous trait that cost her the name she laboured hard through the years to build and cost the country the opportunity to maximize her gifts and skills at the time her aptitude was direly needed.

Betta Edu has expressed believe in the power of truth prevailing. Banking on God, the ultimate judge of human deeds, she said her confidence that the collective efforts to continue to make positive impacts on the lives of the less privileged while confronting the sly men. To this end, Betta needs all the support that she can get in a time like this. To defeat defamers and sustain her good strides in favour of the disadvantaged Nigerians, she needs a prop in us because it's said that marks, when made, attract erasers.

Almost all these politicians are just draining our Treasury dry and enriching themselves. Nothing is being done to curtail this wickedness. Businesses are failing daily. Many are in abject poverty. O lord help us. It's no longer funny

Paid job poorly done

You Loot abi you no loot

How much dem pay you for this lousy job

The writer of this paid article can do better

We all expected this kind of paid article to come in defense of the Minister but we didn't know it going to be this poorly written

This is a paid advert

Omo the same better edu that God just bring from dust.