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President Bola Tinubu has summoned the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, over his alleged involvement of the controversial N438 million contract scandal involving the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.

The Nation newspaper reports that Mr Tunji-Ojo was summoned by the president on Tuesday.

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The minister is expected to explain his role in the contract awarded to New Planet Project Limited, a firm linked to him.

A leaked memo being circulated online showed that a firm linked to the minister, received a substantial sum labeled as ‘consultancy fees’ from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Mr Tunji-Ojo had earlier in a television interview denied any involvement in the contract, explaining that he resigned his directorship of the company in 2019.

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”I am not a signatory to the company,” he said.

“And actually, I was shocked because the company in question was a company where I was a director. About five years ago, I had resigned from my directorship.”

Mr Tunji-Ojo said he co-founded the New Planet Project with his wife 15 years ago but resigned as a director in 2019 upon winning a seat in the House of Representatives.

However, he remained a shareholder in the company.

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“Of course, to the best of my knowledge, public service rules do not prohibit public officers from being shareholders. What public service rules say is that you cannot be a director of which I had resigned about five years ago.”

President Tinubu, on Monday, suspended Mrs Edu for allegedly diverting over N585 million to a private account.

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