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| Buhari and Saraki |
The battle seems to have been drawn between the Senate and the Presidency concerning the indictment of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal over allegations of corruption. President Muhammadu Buhari told the senators that he won’t sack the SGF on the basis of an interim report which does not give fair hearing to the accused.
But Senator Shehu Sani lamented that the President’s exoneration of the SGF from the allegations of corruption in the management of North-East humanitarian crisis, marked the ‘funeral service’ for the anti-corruption fight of this administration.
Sani chaired the Senate ad hoc Committee that investigated humanitarian crisis in the North-East.
The management of the humanitarian crisis in the North-East is under the purview of the SGF. The Senate had asked the President to compel Lawal to resign immediately, following his indictment by the interim report of the committee.
While the Senate accused the SGF of corrupt practices in the execution of contracts designed to alleviate the humanitarian crisis occasioned by Boko Haram insurgency, President Buhari, in a letter to the Senate, read yesterday by its President, Bukola Saraki, accused the apex chamber of violating the rule of law in the course of its investigation on the North-East crisis.
Buhari said that the Senate failed to invite the SGF or his company, allegedly involved in contract execution in the affected area, saying that such action negated the principle of fair hearing and amounted to violation of the principle of rule of law and the constitution of the land.
The president also observed that the Senate drew its conclusions and recommendations from an interim report, arguing that for such weighty issue, the Red Chamber ought to have waited for the final report to be presented to it upon which it would have drawn final and binding resolutions. Buhari, therefore, said that he would not sack Lawal based on the interim report, which in his perception did not respect basic tenets of democracy and human rights as enshrined in the constitution.
He also said that the committee report could only be regarded as a mi nority report as he claimed that only three out of the nine members signed it.
Buhari said: “The report forwarded to the presidency by the Senate which informed the decision that Engr. Babachir Lawal should resign and be prosecuted by the relevant authorities S/075/02/016 was an interim report as against a final report which ought to have been presented to the Senate in the plenary for adoption as a binding and final report before submission to the presidency given the weight of allegations made in the report.
“The Senate committee set up to investigate the mounting humanitarian crisis in the North-East comprised nine members namely, Senators Oluremi Tinubu, Mohammed Hassan, Solomon Adeola, Ben Murray Bruce, Tayo Alasoadura, Theodore Orji, Yahaya A. Abdullahi, Mallam Aliu Wakili and Issac M Alfa. “The review of the interim report shows that the interim report was signed by only three out of the nine members namely Senators Adeola, Abdullahi and Alfa.
“The signing of the interim report by three out of nine members of the committee makes it a minority report of the Senate committee and not a committee report being an interim report, thus presenting a challenge for the presidency to determine the weight to attach to the report as currently presented.
“I have also observed that the Senate ad-hoc interim committee report and the votes and proceedings of the Senate have not in its own right established that Lawal was ever given an opportunity to appear before the committee and defend himself.
“It is also on record that a company linked to him, Rholavision Engineering Limited, was also not invited at anytime before the committee to defend itself against the allegations which eventually formed the fulcrum of the Senate’s case against the company.
“You are invited to note that non-application of principles of fair hearing by the Senate ad-hoc committee is a clear contravention of section 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and against all principles of rule of law as initiated in the Nigerian legal system as well as the roles of the National Assembly committees on handling of public petitions.
“Consequently, I am of the view that baring other considerations that may arise as a result of subsequent investigation of Engr. Lawal by the interim ad-hoc committee the current report as presented to the presidency in its own right does not meet the principles of fair hearing and compliance with the Senate rules for conduct of investigations in matters relating to abuse of office by public officers.
“In replying on the foregoing, I am not able to approve the recommendation to remove and prosecute Engr. Lawal on the basis of the Senate ad-hoc committee report dated 15th December, 2016.” But in a sharp reaction, Senator Sani said that the President lied in all that he stated in the letter.
He said that the SGF was formally invited by the committee, in which he sent a representative in the person of the Secretary of Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE) while also asserting that it was seven members of the committee and not three as claimed by President Buhari, that signed the report.
His words: “It is shocking to me that such a letter can come from the presidency with such misinformation and outright distortions. Before you here, I will raise two issues from that letter.
They lied by saying that we didn’t invite the SGF. The committee invited the SGF and the letter was acknowledged by the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the SGF.
“Second, we made a paid advert in three or four national dailies: this one was published on December 2, 2016 and the SGF is clearly mentioned as one of those that was expected to come and appear before the committee. If they have the intention of simply reaching a pre-determined conclusion by covering up on the issues raised by the committee, that is one thing. “Again, issues were raised that only three
members of the committee signed that interim report, that was also a second lie coming from the Presidency. I have a copy of the interim report, which was initially signed by seven members of the nine members of that committee, and I am going to submit it to the clerk of the Senate.
“Even if it is nine and then three people signed, we still have a quorum, but here I have seven people. I will say also that I listened to the list of the names that were read and they omitted the chairman, which is myself.
“I know I am not very big in frame, but I believe my name shouldn’t have been omitted.
This shows clearly how the SGF and his minions in the Presidency misinformed the President to sign this letter. This shows the default in that kind of letter. “I will also say this clearly, this letter is a funeral service for the anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria.
Mr. President, when it comes to fighting corruption in the National Assembly and the judiciary and in the larger Nigeria sectors, the Presidency uses insecticide and when it comes to fighting corruption within the Presidency, they use deodorants.
“I stand by the report of that committee and it is very clear to us: if we can allow this committee’s report to be shredded into pieces, then I think it would be in order for us to open all the 138 prisons in this country for all the convicts and awaiting trial inmates to go scot free.
“It is unfortunate that we have a political atmosphere where you have a saintly and angelic presidency and a devilish and evil society.
We must, in every respect, fight corruption within the kitchen as we do in the veranda; if we don’t do that, then we are being hypocritical.
This letter does not, in any way, reflect the spirit with which we espoused as a people fighting to cleanse and fumigate this country of corruption.”
Also, while briefing the press after plenary, the spokesman for the Senate, Aliyu Sabi, said that the Senate would stand by its interim report on the SGF, irrespective of the content of Buhari’s letter rubbishing the report.
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