Reduce Your Number Of Aides, Ex-Governor Of Kano, Shekarau Tells Tinubu

A former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, has asked President Bola Tinubu for reduce the number of his appointees to reduce the cost of governance.

Shekarau was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.

“Another angle I expect the president to address is the number of appointees. Some of these appointees may not be necessarily required. Government should come up with a minimum or maximum number,” he said.

He also commended the President for suspending his humanitarian affairs minister Betta Edu who is facing probe for disbursement scandal. Edu is the first of the President’s 48-man cabinet to be suspended.

Edu, who faced a marathon interrogation at EFCC office on Tuesday, was caught in a N585m disbursement scandal involving the humanitarian affairs ministry, attracting widespread criticisms from rights groups and activists.

The predicament of the 37-year-old was worsened when the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, confirmed that although her office received a request from the humanitarian ministry to make certain payments, her office did not act on it.

On Monday, the President wielded his big stick and suspended the 37-year-old with immediate effect, making his party’s ex-national women leader the first to be removed from his 48-man cabinet inaugurated last August.

The President also ordered EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, “to conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of the financial transactions” involving the ministry and “one or more agencies thereunder”.