Former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu and former chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Ngozi Olejeme have been named members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2027 presidential campaign council.
It was gathered that the APC announced 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 appointed Secretary.
Edu and Olejeme were given roles in the campaign structure even when they had been mired in allegations and investigations relating to financial misconduct.
Edu, number 97 on the campaign council list, was appointed Director of Women’s Mobilization.
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, after a memo emerged in which she is said to have asked the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to transfer ₦585 million into a private account.
The President later directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the ministry’s financial dealings.
EFCC officials later questioned 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 said it had recovered N30bn linked to its investigation of activities at the ministry of humanitarian affairs.
The commission also said it was investigating some 50 bank accounts as part of the probe.
October 2024 saw Edu finally axd from the Federal Executive Council.
Tinubu later reshuffled the cabinet and replaced her with Nentawe Yilwatda, now the APC national chairman, in the ministry.
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.
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The presidential spokesman said the EFCC had not made its findings public when asked about the outcome of the investigation of the former minister.
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 up as she is facing a pending money laundering case instituted by the EFCC.
The anti-graft agency in October 2025 arraigned the former NSITF board chairman before a Federal High Court in Abuja on alleged N1 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 while she was the chairman of the agency’s board between 2012 and 2015.
Following the plea, prosecution counsel, Emenike Mgbemele, sought for a trial date and told 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.