Buhari sacrifices Babachir lawal for second term bid

President Muhammadu Buhari may have sacrificed his embattled former Secretary of the Federation, Babachir Lawal following public outcry that his fight against corruption was one sided.

Reall that it took the Buhari  administration almost one year to arraign Lawal, who was alleged to have conspired with some staff of Rolavision, his company, to fraudulently acquire a property, thereby committing an offence contrary to section 26(1)(c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under section 12 of the same Act.

A federal capital territory (FCT) high court on Tuesday ordered Lawal detention after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned him on Tuesday.

The commission had filed a 10-count charge against him on January 30.

When the charges were read to him, he pleaded not guilty while his counsel applied for bail.

The court ruled that he should be remanded while his bail application would be heard on Wednesday.

In October 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari fired Lawal eight months after he was indicted by an ad hoc committee of the senate investigating the humanitarian crisis in the north-east.

Buhari had set up a committee chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to probe Lawal. Despite calls for his arrest and prosecution, no action was taken against the sacked SGF for more than a year after he was sacked.

In January, Osinbajo said the president had ordered the prosecution of Lawal and Ayo Oke, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), who was sacked following the discovery of $43 million at an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Oke left the country shortly before he was to be arraigned but a court in Lagos has issued a warrant for his arrest.