President
Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Osinbajo administrative panel of
investigation to go tough on all the government officials involved in
the breach of office ethics.
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
President Muhammadu Buhari has mandated the presidential panel
probing the allegations against the suspended Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal and the Director-General of
the National Intelligence Agency, Ayo Oke, to suspend all government
officials linked to both cases.
A top Presidency source told a correspondent yesterday that Buhari
on Friday authorised the three-man investigation panel, headed by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, to, before the conclusion of its assignment,
suspend all government officials involved.
The panel, comprising the National Security Adviser Babagana
Monguno and the Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, is
probing the allegations of violations of law and due process made
against the suspended SGF in the award of contracts under the
Presidential Initiative on the North-East.
The committee, which swung into action on Wednesday, is also
investigating the discovery of $43.4 million by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission in a residential apartment at Osborne
Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The National Intelligence Agency had made a claim to the recovered
fund. The panel, constituted on Wednesday, was given a 14-day deadline
to submit its report to President Buhari.
The source said: “The president has authorised the panel to
suspend all government officials linked to the two cases. He has asked
the panel to do this even before the conclusion of its assignment.
“The president has been informed of the involvement of other
government officials in the two issues being investigated. More
officials have been linked to these cases and Mr President has given the
panel the mandate to suspend more people.”
Another source hinted that president also instructed the committee
to do a thorough job. He said though President Buhari had confidence in
the panel’s members, he wanted them “to leave no stone unturned.”
The suspended SGF and the NIA Director-General on Wednesday
appeared before the investigation panel hours after the Presidency
announced their suspension.
The acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, on Friday tendered
bulky “evidential” documents regarding the recovered fund. The Senior
Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu
Akande, said in a statement yesterday that the panel “will conduct its work with utmost diligence and without fear or favour.”
According to him, the panel, in the discharge of its work, is
expected to invite all relevant officials and private individuals who
may be connected to both cases.
Osinbajo’s spokesman said the panel would also obtain and scrutinize documents that “may throw some light on the issues raised in both cases.”
Akande further stated that all proceedings of the panel “will however be in closed sessions to avoid speculations, allow for full disclosure and enhance the pace of proceedings.”
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