Lawyers fault Buhari’s stance on Babachir Lawal
- The national publicity secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, has criticised the way President Buhari handled the allegation of corruption against Babachir Lawal
- A vice-president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Monday Ubani, suggests that Buhari should have asked the EFCC or the ICPC to investigate the SGF
The decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to absolve the secretary to the government of the federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, of allegations of corruption has been crisitcised by prominent lawyers, civil rights groups and individuals.
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The Senate had demanded the removal and prosecution of the SGF, for allegedly inflating contracts he awarded to a firm contracted to carry out humanitarian projects in the northeast.
However, Buhari in a letter to the Senate on Monday, January 23, explained that he could not honour the request by the lawmakers to prosecute Lawal because the report on the SGF which was forwarded to him was lacking in substance.
But Buhari’s stance over the issue has attracted cristcism from some concerned Nigerians.
According to Punch, the national publicity secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, in his reaction, said the president’s handling of the allegations against the SGF was tragic.
He said: "It is tragic that a Presidency, whose sole credential is anti-corruption, would treat a monumental allegation against one of its principal officials this way."
“The Presidency that has all the time to investigate the number of committee members, who did not sign a report, could not find time to investigate the grass-cutting activities of the SGF. It is the lowest low for the anti-corruption war.”
Similarly, a vice-president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Monday Ubani, argued that the president did not handle the allegations against Lawal well.
Ubani suggested that Buhari should have asked the EFCC or the ICPC to investigate the SGF.
He said: "Since the issue was an issue between the legislature and the executive, I expected the President to have directed the police or the EFCC to carry out the investigation instead of another member of the same cabinet.
“Although, both the police and the EFCC are agencies under the executive, it would have given the whole investigation some sense of independence if it was handled by either of the two agencies.
“I also expect the Presidency to give details of its basis for clearing the SGF to the public. Don’t forget that the SGF himself has admitted that the company actually took the contract.
“The Presidency needs to convince the public that the whole contract was done and did not put the SGF in a situation of conflict of interest.
“This also brings us to the issue of the need to put in place an enduring structure for fighting corruption that will remain even when there is a change in governments.”
On his part, an activist and a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, described the defence of the SGF by the presidency an inexplicable stunt.
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He said that the president, on receiving the Senate’s report, ought to have directed either the EFCC or the ICPC to investigate the allegations against the SGF.
He charged the Senate to take the step of forwarding the report to any anti-corruption agency to prove that it genuinely intended to join the fight against corruption
In related news, the co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG, group, Aisha Yesufu has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign for absolving Babachir Lawal of corruption allegations.
Aisha in a series of tweets on Tuesday, January, 24 and Wednesday, January 25, called out the president saying if he can clear someone that stole N200m from vulnerable IDPS in this type of recession then imagine what he would have done in abundance.
Source: Legit.ng
