Tension in Presidency

• As Buhari orders probe of SGF, Chief of Staff, others 

By DANLADI USMAN, Abuja

THE bubble of corruption is about to burst inside the Presidential Villa as President Muhammadu Buhari, on Sunday, directed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to conduct investigations into allegations of fraud and corruption against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David Lawal Babachir; Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari and other top officials of his administration; who may include General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, as well as Magu, EFCC chairman. Since the presidential order, National Daily gathered at eh weekend that several principal officers in the Presidency and top government hierarchy, including those whose names were not mentioned, have been gripped with tension of looming uncertainty in the highest seat of power in the country.

A source from the presidency revealed that President Buhari is becoming embarrassed with the frequent reports that some of his appointees are involved in corruption yet nothing is being done about them. The source disclosed that the president has resolved to take the bull by the horn to cleanse the presidency and other executive organs of the federal government of the vestiges of corruption in order to giver currency to his anti-corruption war and prove critics wrong that he is only going after political opponents.
To the utmost dismay of President Buhari, the Senate had last Wednesday indicted David Babachir Lawal, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), over “Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East”. The Upper Chamber of the National Assembly accused the SGF of awarding contract worth N200 million to his personal company.

The Senate. Accordingly, passed a resolution for the removal of SGF after the consideration of Interim Report of Senate Adhoc Committee‎ on Humanitarian Crises in the North East. Thus, the Senate demanded immediate resignation and prosecution of the SGF, Lawal, ‎

The Senate lamented that humanitarian funds of over $417 million sent to the North East has yet shown no sign of any impact on the ;lives of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the troubled region.

Senator Dino Melaye had made the complaint in plenary during considering of report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Humanitarian Crisis in the North East laid by Senator Shehu Sani.

Senator Sani, who moved for the consideration of the report, was said to have spoken on the pitiable plight of a projected 5.1 million IDPs in the North East.

Sani had reported that Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have been doing most of the humanitarian works, including UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders and the Dangote Group.

He had observed that while the Federal Ministry of Health was nowhere to be found, the Nigerian Air Force, NEMA and Borno SEMA were visible.

Senator Melaye, speaking on the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the mounting humanitarian crisis in the North East, pointed out the Global Vision Limited, revealing that, “The Company is owned by the SGF, Babachir Lawal, to which he resigned as a director in September 2016 but still a signatory to the company’s account.”

It was noted that the contract was‎ to clear ‘invasive plant species’ in Yobe State.
The report had unveiled that ‎Global Vision Limited is owned by Babachir and was indicted in the interim report for allegedly benefiting from inflated and phantom contracts or ones not executed at all awarded by the PINE.

“Lawal’s directorship of the Global Vision while being a public official Secretary General of the Federation contravened Nigeria’s code of conduct for public officials as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution,” the report declared.‎

Melaye had remarked that the action of SGF Babachir Lawal is an embarrassment to the All Progressives Congress [APC] and totally an Anti-Buhari tendency.

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Melaye advocated that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David Babachir Lawal, should immediately resign and be prosecuted.

Senator Yayi Adeola also reiterated that “the actions of the Federal Government in recent times is nothing to write home about”, demanding that Babachir Lawal should immediately resign his appointment as SGF and be prosecuted accordingly.

Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, in a statement on Sunday affirmed that, “President Buhari will wage a relentless war against corruption…” assuring that, “If any of them are liable they will not escape prosecution.”

The Chief of Staff was alleged to have received millions of naira in bribes from MTN during negotiations after the telecommunications giant was fined over $5 billion USD for a security breach.

Moreover, the dust is yet to come down on the allegation of owning about $150 million hotel in Dubai, UAE, against the Chief of Army Staff,

Accordingly, Shehu in the statement declared; “The attention of the presidency has been drawn to a number of reports in the media, in which various accusations of corruption have been levelled against some top officials in the administration. In that regard, President Buhari has instructed the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the involvement of any top government officials accused of any wrong-doing. If any of them are liable they will not escape prosecution.”

The corruption fever gripping the Presidency reflects the fear that many unmentioned names may be revealed in the course of the investigations if conducted with genuine commitment to tame corruption in the country.