Open Letter to President Tinubu: Tunji-Ojo Needs Protection As Monstrous Passport Cabal Fight Back
Minister-designate, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo
It’s not a coincidence. No. And we, members of the Renewed Hope Collective (RHC), saw it coming!
The moment the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made the bold decision to appoint Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo as Minister of Interior and the minister declared his intention to implement the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda without fear or favour, we knew he would get into trouble.
We didn’t know it would be so soon!
The monstrous passport cabal is after him for daring to break their stranglehold on long, deliberate delays in passport production, which was costing the country billions of dollars in foreign exchange but was hugely profitable to the cabal!
Tunji-Ojo belongs to an unenviable select group of change-makers who predictably would incur the wrath and ferocious resistance of the sectorial cabals profiting from the existing modus operandi in dire need of cleansing.
The minister reminds one of the late Chief Bola Ige, who promised to “turn stone into bread” in the power sector, having been appointed minister of power by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Both his talk and walk suggested that he was, indeed, going to turn things around, but the powerful and desperate energy sector cabal frustrated his efforts until he was eased out.
Another go-getter who had to fight her sectorial cabal tooth and nail was the late Prof. Dora Akunyili when she was the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). There was nothing the cabal in the food and drug sector didn’t do either to sabotage her effort or eliminate her. Death threats, charms and attempted assassinations were regular occurrences just because the woman was determined to rid Nigeria of fake products.
Tunji-Ojo is their latest target!
The cabal has been making a mountain of the molehill of the alleged involvement of New Planet Project Limited in the award of contracts by the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu.
They have smelt blood, and sharks that they are, they are coming for the Interior Minister!
Indeed, Tunji-Ojo founded the company 10 years ago, but he resigned from directorship in 2019 when he contested for the House of Representatives and has not been involved in the Management of the company since.
On a Channels TV programme on Monday night, he produced a Certified True Copy of Corporate Affairs Commission as far back as 2019 to prove this.
He is also NOT a signatory to the accounts of the company and his traducers have not shown any proof that he was a DIRECT beneficiary of the contract awarded to the company.
It is precisely to avoid a potentially legally untenable situation as envisaged in the civil service regulations that the Minister resigned his appointment in the company five years ago!
In only a few months since he was appointed minister, see the list of his achievements:
Elevated the Ministry of Interior from a mere public holiday-declaring office to a proper result-oriented supervising ministry.
Announced a two-week timeline for processing passport applications; promised the commencement of home and office delivery of passports to applicants from February 2024 and kept his promise and scored the first PR points for the government.
Threatened to commence the execution of the principle of reciprocity in international relations by halting the visa-on-arrival privilege granted foreign nationals whose countries subject Nigerians to rigorous visa application processes.
Commenced personal upload of passport photographs on NIS passport application portal; and established more e-passport offices in Europe.
Led the advocacy for fair compensation for paramilitary officers, insisting that their salaries must align with those of the Nigeria Police Force personnel
Commenced arrangements to set up a functional pension board for paramilitary personnel as a mechanism to secure their future.
Cleared fines and compensations worth N585 million for 4,068 inmates nationwide on account of their inability to pay.
