Some
members of the Senate have insisted that the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, must appear before them or
resign.
Babachir Lawal
The embattled Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
Babachir Lawal, is set to appear before the Nigerian Senate as the
lawmakers is insisting that he must appear before them to defend himself
against the allegations of corruption and misconduct or quit his
office.
According to Punch newspaper, the members of the senate who
insisted on their call for Lawal’s removal, arrest and prosecution,
asked President Muhammadu Buhari to compel the SGF to defend himself
before the lawmakers.
It was learnt on Thursday that the majority of the senators
supported the Chairman of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Mounting
Humanitarian Crisis in the North-East, Senator Shehu Sani, who dismissed
Buhari’s letter in which the President gave reasons why Lawal would not
be sacked.
Speaking to a correspondent, the Kaduna state senator, Sani told
said that the ad hoc committee might re-invite the SGF as its
investigations continued. “We can re-invite him (Lawal); there is no problem with that. If there is the need, we will invite him again,” he said.
Also speaking to a correspondent, other senators, said the
President should allow the SGF to defend himself before the Senate
rather than the President defending him.
Senator Mao Ohuabunwa insist that Lawal must defend himself or quit. He said, “Let
us get the final report (by the committee) but he should come and
defend himself. I think that should be the right thing. He should go to
the committee and answer to its call as required by its invitation.”
“It is then left to the committee to compare what they have
with what would be his response to the allegations. The right thing is,
if the Senate invites you, you must honour that invitation and prove
your innocence, if possible, with documents.”
Senator Adesoji Akanbi (Oyo South), also said the Senate might
reply Buhari, asking him to order Lawal to make himself available for
the Senate probe.
He said, “On the issue of the SGF, the content of the letter
written back to us by the executive is untrue. The interim report we
have shows that seven members of the committee signed it. If at all it
was signed by three members and the Presidency was conversant with our
procedures, he would have known that ratio three to nine is one-third,
which means a quorum was formed.
“On a serious note, the allegations were not treated; they were
not mentioned by the President. It was an allegation and the man
(Lawal) was given the opportunity of fair hearing. He refused to come
and he sent somebody, and he felt the person he sent was competent
enough to represent him.
“I think the only thing that can happen, if they want to prove
that they are fighting corruption, which we believe they are fighting,
Mr. President should impose it on the SGF to appear before the
committee. If Mr. President is sincere and he is convinced that the SGF
is not being fairly treated, he should ask him to come.”
Also, Senator Danjuma La’ah said the lawmakers would not stop
calling for Lawal’s removal and prosecution, stating that the SGF still
had the opportunity to defend himself before the Senate.
He said, “As far as we are concerned, we won’t take issue with
the President or even the SGF. We have stated our final decision and it
stands. Even the letter written by the President, I don’t think he is
the one who wrote it. Something is fishy somewhere because the President
cannot go so low.
“We had made a decision and he was still writing back to us,
telling us that this is what he wants and it doesn’t work that way.”
Recall that the Nigerian Senate had called for Lawal’s resignation,
probe and prosecution over the findings in the interim report of the
Senate ad hoc committee on the situation in the North-East.
The decision was based on the interim report by the Senate
Committee on the Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North-East, headed
by Senator Shehu Sani, which was released on December 14, 2016.
The lawmakers specifically called on security and anti-graft
agencies to arrest and prosecute Lawal, who is overseeing the
Presidential Initiative on the North-East, for allegedly owning one of
the companies awarded contracts in the rehabilitation of the North-East.
The SGF had denied the allegation, saying what the Senate said was “balderdash.”
He alleged that there was an attempt by the senators to malign him,
wondering why the committee did not invite him to confront him with
those allegations during the investigative hearing.
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