President Muhammadu Buhari has finally received the report of the panel set up to investigate the suspended Secretary to Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal and the Director General, Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Ayo Oke on allegations of financial infractions.
Fielding questions from newsmen at the State House after submitting the report to the President on Wednesday, Vice President Osinbajo said he could not make public the details of the report as the President will have to go through it and make a decision. According to him, the President will have to consider the recommendations made by the panel before taking his own stand on the matter.
President Buhari in April this year, ordered the suspension and investigation of the SGF and the DG NIA over allegations of financial infractions. He set up a three man panel to get the job done and ordered that the most senior civil servants take over. Habiba Lawal has acted as SGF for three months while Arab Yadam has served as Acting DG of the NIA for three months.
The three man panel led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo with the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mongonu and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami as members submitted the report to the President in his home office.
President Buhari returned to the country on Saturday after convalescing in London where he spent 104 days. Since his return the President has worked from his home office as officials say his office is being renovated and tidied up considering his prolonged absence.
The report was report was initially to be submitted to the President on the 8th of May, a day after he left the country.
“All I can now say is that we have submitted the report to the President and it is a very detailed report as a matter of fact. The President has to study the report and make decisions.
“Of course not. I mean this is a report which contains recommendations to the President.
“It is a fact finding committee as you know and what our terms of reference were was to find out based on the fact available to us and based on the interviews of witnesses of what transpired in those cases of the report one involving the SGF and the other the DG of NIA. We have now concluded that and we submitted a full report with recommendations to the President. We cannot ofcourse give you any kind of details because the President has to look at the report, study it and then make his own decisions based on that report” Osinbajo said.
He added that the committee was fair minded in the conduct of its duties bearing the interest of government at heart.
Well as you can imagine we are always fair minded and the whole approach is to ensure that justice is done in all cases. It is in the interest of the government and also the interest of the nation that things are done properly and that there is due process and that we are not unfair. You can be sure that we will do the right thing?
Osinbajo declined to give more insight into the document insisting that the bulk has been passed to the President’s table and everyone will have to wait for his decision.
The SGF was suspended in connection with the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) pending the outcome of the investigations. A Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East headed by Shehu Sani in its
interim report in December 2016 indicted the SGF in a grass cutting
scandal of over N200million.
interim report in December 2016 indicted the SGF in a grass cutting
scandal of over N200million.
The President also ordered a full-scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) made a claim. The Osinbajo led committee was to investigate why the NIA, Nigeria’s Foreign Security Agency kept $43.4m, N23m and £27,000 (N13bn) in a house in Ikoyi. The money was seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, following a tip-off from a whistle-blower.
