Senate seals hope of suspended SGF

.Sends report of his indictment to Buhari

. Lawal contravened provisions of Constitution, Public Procurement Act, Oath of office -Committee

The Senate on Wednesday endorsed the Report of its Ad hoc Committee on the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. David Babachir Lawal, and thereafter transmitted it to the President Muhammadu Buhari for further action.

The Ad hoc Committee headed by Senator Shehu Sani had in its Report which it laid before the Senate recommended prosecution for the SGF and others over alleged acts of impropriety in the Award of contracts on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in North East.

Specifically, the committee recommended the prosecution of Babachir Lawal on alleged N500 million kickbacks and grass cutting contract approved by the Presidential Committee on North West under his supervision.

Chairman of the committee, Sen. Shehu Sani, who read the report said the committee recommended the retrieval of all resources that seemed to have been misapplied or stolen by public officials.

“Anybody found culpable of contravening any section of the Public Procurement Act 2007 and the Federal Government Financial Rules and Regulations pertaining to the awards of these contracts should be dully prosecuted by the relevant authorities.

“Since all the contracts awarded by PINE were awarded under the principle of emergency situation, PINE should forward a detailed report of all contracts awarded by it to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). This should be done in accordance with section 43(4) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

“Since it was observed that there was no Bill of Quantities on most of the contracts awarded by PINE under the emergency situation, the BPP should undertake re-evaluation of such contracts to recover any proceeds from the over-inflated contracts,” he said.

According to Sani, relevant agencies should ensure that contracts partially executed but fully paid for must be completed by the concerned contractors or equivalent money for outstanding jobs should be returned to the government treasury.

He said that bank transactions by Rholavision Limited and confirmation from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed through Bank Verification Number (BVN) that Mr. Babachir Lawal was signatory to the company’s account.

He further said that Lawal’s BVN also showed that he was signatory to 13 other accounts but with different names.

“The committee is of the opinion that Mr. Lawal has contravened the provisions of part one of Fifth Schedule of 1999 Constitution, the Public Procurement Act 2007 and breached oath of office as SGF.

“So, he should be disciplined by the relevant authority. The committee also recommends further investigations by relevant agencies of government as to why contracts benefiting companies spread over 500 million naira into Rholavision Engineering account, a company in which Mr. Lawal has interest,’’ Sani said.

After deliberation on the Report, the Senate adjourned for 10 minutes and returned to approve the votes and proceedings of the day to enable them transmit the report to the Presidency.
Senators, who spoke with our correspondent, disclosed that vote of proceedings of the day on the suspended SGF was transmitted alongside that of the two Ministerial nominees, Professor Stephen Ikani Ocheni (Kogi) and Suleiman Hassan (Gombe) that were confirmed on Wednesday.

Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, in his remarks during consideration of the report, alleged that part of the money cornered from PINE was used to derail the National Assembly.

He said: “You raised issue that N13m is being used for borehole but you took N270m for consultancy service to cut grass and another N200m for the cutting of the grass”.

There have been reports that the face-off between the Senate and the Presidency was rooted in the underground power tussle between the suspended SGF and the Senate President Bukola Saraki on specific political issues.

Saraki had earlier accused a cabal within the Presidency as the masterminds of the standoff between the two arms of government.
In his remarks when debate on the Committee Report was on, Senator Abubakar Kyari (APC Borno), averred that those who managed PINE never believed God do exist, as he expressed outrage on alleged fraud by indicted government officials over management of funds for displaced persons in the North East.

“They used the plight of helpless and hopeless displaced persons to enrich themselves. Up till now, our people are yet to go their farms because of pocket of marauding insurgents. Security operatives cannot be everywhere, “he said.
The Senate President, who spoke in the same vein, stated that the issue in question was not only about the suspended SGF but the plight of displaced persons in the North East.