The Coalition of civil society groups has called on President Bola Tinubu to restart Nigeria's social protection programmes with better checks and balances, in the face of the suspension of the minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu.

This was disclosed yesterday by a member of the coalition and a civil rights activist, Mr Mohammed Sanusi.

According to the coalition, the President should also reform the federal government's financial Regulations, and strengthen the existing regulations that will ensure more fiscal responsibility on the part of appointees.

He urged the president to recall the suspended minister, Dr Betta Edu to continue her work. He described the ordeal of Edu as a carefully orchestrated blackmail against her and a distraction.

He stated further that the distractions are not actually targeted at the foot soldiers, but rather at the President himself. The game plan, he said, was to take down all his best hands, ensure his government has no impact, ultimately getting him voted out for poor performance in 2027.

He said, "These distractions are not actually targeted at the foot soldiers, but rather at the President himself. The game plan being to take down all his best hands, ensure his government has no impact, ultimately getting him voted out for poor performance in 2027."

Sanusi further disclosed that the detractors are working to see that the government goes down and deprive the people the opportunity of benefiting from government's welfare programme. "For once the poor and vulnerable across the country can testify that they are actually benefiting from the federal government's various programmes,"he said.