Secretary
to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. David Babachir Lawal, is
still under the radar of Senators who are insisting he must resign.
SGF Babachir Lawal
Nigerian Senators who are angry that President Muhammadu Buhari who
last week exonorated the Secretary to the Government of the Federation
(SGF), David Babachir Lawal, and refused to act on their recommendations
that the SGF be sacked and possibly prosecuted, has spoken out
insisting that the embattled SGF must be sacked.
Spokesman of the Senate, Abdullahi Sabi, Committee Chairman on
Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Kabir Marafa and Senator Peter
Nwaoboshi, who chairs the Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, in separate
interviews with Daily Sun, said they will not backpedal on the issue.
Sabi, who was furious when a correspondent queried him over claims
that the Senate was on a revenge mission following the SGF’s refusal to
release funds budgeted for lawmakers’ Constituency Projects, accused the
media of taking sides.
He said the Senate as an institution of government, should be
respected by the media. Though he did not extensively comment on the
issue, he, however, said the Senate was not making any U-turn on its
earlier stance.
Sabi said: “The media is becoming the enemy of Nigeria. The
media always like stoking controversy. I will not respond to the
question at all. The media is unfair to the Senate. You can quote me. It
is my opinion. Is it that Senators cannot do their job again without
the media accusing us falsely?
“Is it not our duty to expose anything going wrong in the
society? The Senate is a democratic institution and Nigerians must
respect us. We deserve some dignity. I have my integrity to protect. The
media should set an agenda for us instead of this issue. We have
decided on the issue of SGF and there is no going back on that.”
Senator Nwaoboshi said since the issue was already in the public
domain, there was no need for him to make further comments. He urged
Nigerians to analyse the issues and draw conclusions. He said he was
fully in support of the position taken by the Senate.
“I stand with everything the Senate has said on the issue of
the SGF. I am not a member of the committee. Nigerians should draw their
conclusions from what we have done. The matter is in the public domain.
Nigerians should make something out of what has happened. I am a
Senator and I respect whatever decision has been reached by my
colleagues,” he said
Senator Marafa said since a decision had been reached by lawmakers,
it will be unfair for him to take a contrary position. He said he was
in sinc with the position of the Senate.
He said: “This is an issue we have discussed extensively and I
have nothing more to add. During our executive session on Tuesday, we
all agreed that the Senate spokesman will address journalists and tell
them what we arrived at. I do not want to be seen to be saying something
different from what we have agreed on. Every inquiry should be directed
to the Senate spokesman.”
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Buhari “to
urgently refer the allegations of corruption against the SGF to the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for
further investigation, and if there is relevant and sufficient
admissible evidence, for him to face prosecution.”
SERAP, in a letter issued by the Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, urged Buhari to “urgently
publish the outcome of the investigation conducted on the matter by the
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar
Malami (SAN), and to ask Mr. Malami to hand over the file to both the
EFCC and ICPC.”
In the letter dated January 27, 2017, the organisation said, “we
are concerned that the failure to suspend Mr. Lawal from his position
as Secretary to the Government of the Federation pending the
investigation by Mr. Malami and the perceived lack of transparency in
the outcome of that investigation may have created the impression that
your government is treating Mr. Lawal as a sacred cow.”
The letter copied to Acting President Yemi Osinbayo reads in part: “SERAP
believes that Mr Lawal’s case presents your administration with a real
opportunity to reassure a lot of Nigerians who may be worried about the
direction your anti-corruption agenda. Rather than assuming a defensive
posture to the matter, we advise you to use this case to show to
Nigerians that there will be no two standards of justice in your
administration’s fight against corruption.”
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