A former Presidential Aide and Best Selling Author, Reno Omokri, has knocked the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, over her recent suspension by President Bola Tinubu.
Omokri who said the prayers of Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church should have made Edu conscious of setting good examples while in office, advised Nigerians to learn how to separate religion from politics.
The former Presidential aide described the scandal involving the minister, as a wake-up call on Nigerians to distance politics from religion, saying that competence should be the only criteria to occupy an office.
Premium Politics reported that President Bola Tinubu suspended Edu for allegedly instructing the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to pay the sum of N585.18 million into a private account owned by one Oniyelu Bridget, who is said to have been the project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos and Ogun states.
Meanwhile, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, rejected the minister’s directive and refused to pay the said amount of money.
However, Tinubu while suspending the minister, ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to launch a thorough investigation into the matter.
Edu had during the 2023 annual Shiloh programme of the Living Faith Church, shared a testimony, revealing that Tinubu appointed her, as a minister after Oyedepo had prayed for her.
Edu had during the 2023 annual Shiloh programme of the Living Faith Church, shared a testimony, revealing that Tinubu appointed her, as a minister after Oyedepo had prayed for her.
Reacting to the development via a post on X, Omokri wrote: “Just the fact that Bishop Oyedepo prayed for you to become a minister alone should have made you more conscious of setting a good example. While nobody is perfect, this recent episode, along with the scandal involving the Yes Daddy leaked audio and the Bishop, is yet another indication that we should not mix religion and politics.
“Competence should be the only qualification for high office. An irreligious person who is competent is likely to be better than a religious person who is not competent. We cannot pray for a better country and then pray for people to occupy positions of power that they are not qualified for.
“That is why China, a country that has wholly divorced all forms of religion from its politics, is feeding, equipping and building Nigeria, one of the most religious countries on Earth.”