One Month After, Buhari in Dilemma over Babachir, Oke

More than a month after the submission of the report of the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo committee that investigated the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal, and the Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke, President Muhammadu Buhari remains undecided on what to do with the two senior officials of his government who were asked to step down from office more than five months ago.

Since its submission, it has been more than a month and Senator Shehu Sani, who headed the Senate committee that raised the dust over Babachir’s alleged mismanagement of funds meant to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in the North-east, told THISDAY, that the delay in the release of the Osinbajo report was unbecoming of a government that had made war against graft its priority.

A reliable source said the committee found that the foreign currency equivalent of N13.3 billion found in a flat in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos belonged to the NIA as claimed by the suspended spy boss, but queried the unusual operational procedures of the agency, which it argued were open to widespread abuse and corruption.

Lawal, said a source is a close ally and confidant of Buhari, who, as the national vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) North-east, worked tirelessly for the victory of the president in the region during the 2015 general election.

Relieving him of his post, according to the source, would amount to sacrificing him, an action which close confidants of the president suggest would be politically inexpedient, as it would whittle down their ranks in the Presidential Villa power configuration.

THISDAY, October 2, 2017

 

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