Anti-graft war heightens as Buhari suspends SGF, NIA DG

Orders investigation into allegations of violations of law, due process made against SGF

.Shehu Sani, Timi Frank, others hail action; Suspension an afterthought, cover-up plot-Fayose

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday surprised his antagonists when he wielded the big stick as he ordered the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. David Babachir Lawal and the embattled Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke, to proceed on suspension.

But there was a mild drama on Wednesday as the suspended SGF, David Babachir Lawal, met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo shortly after his suspension was made public.

The embattled SGF, who was sighted coming down from the office of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, however denied knowledge of his suspension even as he decided to play down the issues around his suspension.

The out of favour ally of the President refused to speak to journalists who anxiously waited to get reactions from him.

The following interaction thereafter ensued as he made efforts to evade questions from State House Correspondents.

Journalists: Sir: Your suspension has just been announced. How will you react to the development?
Lawal: Who announced it?
Journalists: The Presidency
Lawal: Then ask them. Why are you asking me? Who is the Presidency?
Journalists: But have you been informed of the suspension?
Lawal: By who? About what? What about you? Have you been informed?
Journalists: Yes sir.
Lawal: By who?
Journalists: By the Presidency, sir.
Lawal: I have not seen it. I should have been given. I have not seen the press release so I cannot comment on it.
Journalists: It is currently trending online. Are you doubting the authenticity of the statement?
Lawal: I have not seen it.
Journalists: Tell us the outcome of your meeting with the Vice-President sir.
Lawal: I am always here. I always meet the Vice-President. I used to come here even before I was made SGF.

The announcement of the SGF suspension and that of the DG NIA by the President was seen as a refreshing news to the bored and news hungry State House Correspondents as the day was seen as another dry day, following the cancellation of the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting.

It was also seen as a big plus for Buhari’s anti-corruption war following what was seen as a demonstration of strong political will to tackle corruption, by that action.

With the order suspending the SGF, Babachir Lawal and the DG NIA, Ayo Oke, many Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief that the President has finally matched his words with action.

The President also ordered thorough investigation into the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the SGF Babachir Lawal in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).

A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the President directed the suspension of the SGF from office pending the outcome of the investigations.

The statement also said the President has 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) has made a claim.

It was further gathered that the NIA DG, Ambassador Oke, was sighted late at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday looking very desperate as he entered the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.

The NIA DG was however prevented from seeing Vice President Osinbajo when he attempted to enter his office.

Adesina said investigations ordered by the President will also enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the said funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds.

The President has also directed the suspension of the Director General of the NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke, pending the outcome of the investigation.

A three-man Committee comprising the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and the National Security Adviser, headed by the Vice President, is to conduct both investigations.

The Committee is to submit its report to the President within 14 days.

The most senior Permanent Secretary in the SGF’s office, and the most senior officer in the NIA, are to act, respectively, during the period of investigation.

Before the announcement, the Villa was a complete shadow of the usually bubbling nature every Wednesday as the regular weekly Federal Executive Council FEC meeting did not hold.

State House correspondents who had no prior knowledge of the cancellation, got to the Council Chamber venue of the meeting only to learn that it would not hold.

Although no official statement was issued, but Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, was quoted as saying that it was canceled because the secretariat staff of the FEC had no opportunity to circulate relevant documents for the meeting because of the Easter holiday.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crises in the North-East, Senator Shehu Sani, and the Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, have applauded the action of President Buhari in suspending the SGF.

The Senate Ad hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crises in the North-East had in an interim report, indicted the SGF in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North-East (PINE).

Reacting, Sani said it was commendable that the committee’s report was taken seriously.

“The sword of truth is not just cast and sharpened for the neck of foes but also for those of friends.

“Moral gallows is not just meant for a belligerent foe but for a perfidious friend.

“Courage is dispensing justice; greater courage is dispensing justice against our emotions and temptation towards saving a friend.

“It’s easier to annihilate an adversary for a heap wrong than reprimand a friend for a mountain of wrong.
“It’s commendable for the president to heed the call to fumigate the throne of lice and bugs with the same ability he goes after rodents afar,’’ he said.

The lawmaker clarified that “the senate and the committee have nothing personal against the SGF or any person affected.

“We simply did our job in conformity with our constitutional responsibilities and the moral calling of our conscience.

“We cannot jubilate because a mighty mortal is caught in the trap of his fate; we are neither saints nor Angels, but we have a duty to raise a card and blow the whistle.’’

Also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, while commending President Buhari for suspending the SGF, said the move was evidence that the president was ready to fight corruption irrespective of who was involved.

He added that contrary to beliefs that the National Assembly was out to witch-hunt members of the executive, the assembly had sincerity of purpose in the discharge of its duties.

He urged the president to also take a look at the Senate’s rejection of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.

“The president should also take a look at recommendations made with regard to Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), and other issues,’’ he added.

He explained that the stand of the Senate on Magu and Ali was not as a result of any personal issues but in the best interest of the country.
In his reaction, Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Sen. Adamu Aliero, applauded the courage of the president in suspending the SGF.

Also, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has commended President Buhari for suspending the SGF and the NIA DG and called for more of such actions.

Frank also said the President has done well by setting up a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the recovered large amount of money from a Lagos house, calling on the President to take a step further to immediately sack all the serving “Cabinet members who have in one way or the other brought disrepute to the administration of the APC”.

However, Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose described the suspension of the SGF and NIA DG as well as setting up of a three-man Committee to investigate the discovery of over N13 billion cash by the EFCC in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos as diversionary, afterthought and a prelude to the official cover-up of the original owners of the money.

The governor, who said the Buhari-led government was becoming an embarrassment to Nigerians with its macabre dance of shame, asked: “Would the President have set up a probe panel if these scams were linked to anyone in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or those members of his party that are not in his good books? “Most importantly, what business does Presidential Committee have with investigation of crime? Are they telling Nigerians that they have lost confidence in all the intelligence and investigative agencies of the government, including the EFCC and DSS?”

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Gov. Fayose said it was becoming obvious that President Buhari has lost control of his government, adding that; “The Buhari-led Federal Government is operating like many governments within one government. There appears to be many Presidencies within the Presidency and this is the reason for the confusion everywhere.”

The governor declared that “the cat of President Buhari’s government hypocrisy in its fight against corruption has already been let of the bag” adding that; “Nigerians can no longer be deceived by a government that protects its own people whenever they are accused of corruption while setting the DSS and EFCC to invade houses of members of opposition parties, especially those perceived as having presidential ambition in 2019 in the night to arrest and detain them indefinitely even when corruption allegations against them have not been proved.”

He said it was the inability of the President to take actions beyond his political party and ethnic sentiments that plunged his government into the present controversies, asking: “Did the President not write a letter dated January 17, 2017, to the Senate, exonerating the SGF? So what has changed in the case of the SGF? Was his announced suspension just for balancing?

“Why waiting for this messy OsborneGate to act on the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) grass-cutting scam? Could it have been a case of one Presidency (Buhari) writing the Senate on January 17, 2017 to clear the SGF and another Presidency suspending him today? “Whichever way one looks at it, it gives no other impression than that of confusion in the government.” Speaking further, the governor asked;

“Is their presidential committee also going to tell Nigerians those who abandoned N49 million cash in an airport that has CCTV cameras? What the owner of the N448 million the EFCC said it found in a shop at LEGICO Shopping Plaza, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos?

“In all these, what I see is a government trying frantically to cover-up corrupt acts of its functionaries but like I said before now, even though we know that the APC-led federal government has the capacity to sweep it under the carpet like many others before it, Nigerians will have it on record that they are being ruled by a government of the more you look, the less you see.”