I just saw a clip of her in church thanking God for making her a Federal Minister at 37. She also went ahead to state that at that age, people don’t get to sit down at the council chambers forgetting that (General Yakubu) Gowon, (late General) Murtala (Muhammed) and (former Military Head of State and late President Olusegun) Obasanjo were already running the country at around the same age.
As I watched the video clip of Betta Edu, I asked myself how such a beautiful woman could be this stupid.
The memos she signed off on, the huge amount showing her level of stupidity and her inexperience, made me wonder just how the system could have thrown up such a dullard.
A Federal Director called me this night lamenting at just how “these politicians ignore civil servants and end up in a mess”. This statement went ahead to confirm what we all know that the drivers and enablers of corruption are well experienced civil servants.
For as I looked very closely at the memo, I could see that the memo originated from one coordinator and went straight to her table without passing through the processes that have been ingrained in bureaucratic red tape.
No Permanent Secretary, no Director, nothing just straight to Honourable Minister who immediately approved and viola – disgrace.
Three things are to blame here: the system that could not checkmate her, her person and finally those who threw her up for such an elevated position when it was very glaring that there was nothing special about this super beauty with an empty head.
In about six months, she unravelled and her inexperience and naivety continued with her attempting to meet with the President (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu) after her suspension was announced.
Whoever advised her is her worst enemy and in her continued “mumuness” drove there. Mbok, don’t you have to have clearance or something? Did she get the clearance before she jumped in her tight skirt to the place? Or was she advised by the same person who assured (former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin) Emefiele that he would be president?
Why would the President who just suspended you now want to see you? What kind of optics would that be? Why did she even want to see him? Was she going to kneel down and say: “Daddy, don’t vex, let me cook you your favourite soup?”
See, let’s not even kid ourselves. This is a scapegoat albeit a very beautiful one. These people must realise that we are not fools. She is taking the fall for a huge structure that had set her up to play the bag woman.
Seeing another memo of beneficiaries, it was clear that she was just the fall guy. The system should prove us wrong by throwing up every other person involved after their investigations because she definitely didn’t decide to do this to buy bleaching cream.
My brother says that what pains him the most in all of these is the fact that she ticked all the boxes. She is female, young and educated and that he expected a fresh approach to governance championed by her and her ilks in Government
And I look at him and laughed. Do you honestly think that the very beautiful ones would be allowed to emerge? The system carefully selects the ones that are decayed, pad them up with puerile perfumes and sell them to us like they did with Ugly Betty.
It has been a jamboree. The President has not shown any real control of his government and his people. Despite his swift move at stripping Ugly Betty naked and his pursuit of the evil sugar conglomerate and the bald headed kleptomaniac who headed our monetary institutions, he still comes across with real dirty garments attempting to clean other garments.
He must start from himself to purge. He must come clean as to who he is and what his real intentions for Nigeria are. If not, his people will keep behaving as if it’s a free for all.
You cannot lead without a moral high ground. Otherwise these are the kinds of things you will be seeing. Government officials like Ugly Betty will keep taking their own share. After all, it’s free for all.
This was a country. We may have lost the country. And the leadership that will energise us is nowhere to be found.
No be this one.
. Edgar, professionally known as the Duke of Shomolu, is the head of the Duke of Shomolu Productions.
