Embattled SGF Lawal chases away Senate officials who came to deliver invite (Updated)

The suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal reportedly chased away Senate officials who were sent to deliver an invitation to him to come answer some questions.

The officials were said to have arrived his residence to hand over the summons on Wednesday but were chased away.

Chairman of the Senate Adhoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the Northeast, Sen Shehu Sani who made this known on Thursday vowed that the committee would go ahead and submit their report.

Lawal, as at the time of this report failed to show up at the investigate hearing into the award of contracts for some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.

Read also: Osinbajo panel writes Senate, demands interim reports indicting SGF

The committee, had last December, in an interim report indicted Lawal for allegedly contravening the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, and the Federal Government Financial Rules and Regulations on the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on North-East (PINE).
Lawal, who is currently being investigated by a Presidential panel over the allegation, was invited to state his own side of the story.
Briefing journalists two hours after it waited in vain for Lawal to appear, the committee expressed disappointment that he failed to show up. According to Sani, the committee will compile its report and submit same to the Senate on Tuesday.
Lamenting Lawal’s failure to exploit the opportunity to defend himself, Sani stated: “The last time the committee invited him, the suspended SGF said we should give him more time because he was engaged in other official engagements; and we thought that now that he is under suspension, he would have enough time to be here. We sent letters to his former office, and his House, but the one for his house could not be delivered, the men at the gate turned back our messenger.

“Now we are here since 10am waiting for him and its now 12. It is clear to us that he is not appearing. As you can see, he is not here. As far as we are concerned, we would certainly go ahead and present our report on the floor of the Senate based on the fact and figures, we have with us at our disposal.
“We believe that in the interest of fairness and justice, we should sacrifice time, but he is not here. We see this as deliberate choice to be absent from this hearing; and we believe that the general public have seen how we all tried to give the man opportunity to defend himself publicly. This is a public hearing, and we insisted that it should be open to all Nigerians to come and hear his own side of the story.”

A member of the committee, Senator Ben Murray Bruce however, revealed that more incriminating information had been acquired by the committee against Lawal which he was invited to defend.

Confirming the developmwnt, Sani said that it was the reason the committee wanted to give Lawal a fair hearing.
“We know the implication of indicting a person, it goes to his records, his personality, his history and his legacy, and it is on the grounds of that we felt such an historical mark, should be done with all fairness, and justice. We did that to the best of our ability, but since he has decided to stay away, we declare this a no show for him, and that would not in anyway stop us from presenting our report on the floor of the senate, next week,” Sani said.‎

By Akin Obakeye

 

 

RipplesNigeria ….without borders, without fears

Click here to download the Ripples Nigeria App for latest updates

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now