SGF’s Sack Linked to Unapproved Removal of Heads of Parastatals/MDAs- Group

President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade has been rejuvenated, following the sack of Engr. Babachir Lawal, Secretary to the Government of the Federation. His removal has been applauded from far and wide.

It has rekindled the hopes of Nigerians on President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to salvage Nigeria from the clutches of corrupt public officials in high places.

In a press release made available to newsmen in Abuja yesterday by an anti-corruption pressure-group, Coalition of Civil Societies and Media Executives for Good Governance (COCMEGG) and jointly signed by Omoba Kenneth Aigbegbele and Comrade James Okoronkwo, President and Secretary respectively.

The group stated that Engr. Babachir Lawal, the disgraced secretary to the government of the federation almost jeopardized President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-graft war through his corrupt tendencies within the period he was in office, lauding the President for shoving him out of office.

Quoting unconfirmed Aso Rock Villa sources, the group noted that the SGF’s ouster may not be unconnected with the recent removal of the heads of parastatals and MDA’s saying that “Nigerians were particularly pained with the unceremonious removal from office of the Director-General of National Pension Commission (PENCOM) Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu whose tenure witnessed an unprecedented revival of the ailing pension industry whose pension fund asset base was hitherto at 2.5 trillion naira but was grown to 6.5 trillion in less than four years in office.

The erstwhile DG according to the group has renewed the confidence of public sector workers and the investing public thereby growing the economy at a period Nigerians are groaning with economic recession.

Furthermore, the group remarked that the transparent leadership of Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu has made the pension industry the darling of investors in Nigeria by raising the standard and breaking barriers from zero level when the industry started to an enviable height worth trillions of naira in capital/asset base due to the prudent and good governance practice of the management.

In addition, the contributing pension scheme which the Pencom DG innovated facilitated the development of the corporate bond market as well as grew Nigerian mortgage refinancing company to 50 billion naira. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu according to the group also increased corporate governance in companies where pension funds have been invested.

The group regretted that she was ill-treated because of her gender and origin being from the marginalized south-east geopolitical zone, appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately reinstate her as her patriotic disposition to the president’s anti-corruption may have rankled the cabal who recently announced her removal from office without following due process.

COCMEGG also believes that her removal was hatched by the cabal to bring their cronies to loot the treasury of not only PENCOM but the entire industry. The group passed a vote of confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade, urging him not to relent in his avowed commitment to rid our public service of corrupt elements.

Finally, the group noted that the purported removal of Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu as the Director General of PENCOM is mired in illegality and controversy as according to them, no letter has been transmitted to her.

It stated that the recent sack of the heads of MDAs/Parastatals is illegal and therefore cannot stand because the author of the bizarre carried out the clandestine act without the blessing of Mr. President