SGF’s suspension: What is new?

THE Presidency ordered the suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal, a few days ago after protracted accusations by the Senate of improprieties against him in the award of contracts for projects under the Presidential Initiative in the North East (PINE) over which he superintended until recently. However, the real issue is not the propriety of the suspension of the SGF, which of course is hardly in question, but the timing. The question on the lips of many Nigerians is, what has changed to sway the Presidency to do what is virtually tantamount to a volte face? What has changed since January 17 when the Presidency gave a clean bill of health to the SGF on the grounds of alleged procedural breaches by the Senate without addressing the substance of the matter?

Indeed, has Lawal appeared before the committee handling his matter in the Senate to state his own side of the story? Would the SGF still have been suspended if the Senate had given up on his matter after the letter transmitted to it on Lawal’s issue by the Presidency?  The veritable question is, what is new or what new facts have emerged to diametrically change the narrative? Or is the Federal Government in possession of fresh and indicting information on the SGF that the public is unaware of? These questions are being asked because government’s recent action appears to be an afterthought forced on it by mounting pressure from outside of the Presidency. It should be noted that some civil society organisations and members of the public have been quite vociferous in their criticism of government’s seeming protection of public officials accused of corruption in the Presidency. There is yet an insinuation that the SGF’s suspension might have been orchestrated by some officials other than the president, who had openly stood by the SGF until his suspension. There is the rumour that President Muhammadu Buhari has not been attending to state matters because of his ill-health and so could not have ordered the  suspension of the SGF. Sadly, Lawal’s sarcastic retort, ‘Who is the Presidency?’  when confronted by State House correspondents on his suspension by the Presidency tends to give credibility to this grave insinuation.

Whatever may have influenced the Presidency’s recent actions, it should not have waited for this long to act. It should have made the right and important decisions before it began to attract criticisms and aspersions on the anti-graft war from some members of the public.   Even the somewhat belated suspension of the SGF would appear to have fallen short, as  the proper thing to do was to   have handed over the matter to the appropriate anti-corruption agencies for investigation and possible prosecution rather than constituting a committee within the Presidency to carry out the investigation. And in any case, what happened to the report of the investigation carried out by the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice on Lawal at the instance of the president?

Nigerians are interested in the genuineness of the Presidency’s intentions at all times. As such, nothing should be done to hoodwink the public in the handling of Lawal’s fraud allegation. The vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo’s three-man committee  is urged to thoroughly investigate the allegation of fraud levelled against the SGF and come up with a clear-cut report that does not leave anything hanging. The vice-president needs to note that what would be impacted one way or the other by the quality of the outcome of his committee’s assignment is not just the credibility of the administration’s anti-graft war, but also his integrity and that of President Buhari. This is by no means suggesting that the suspended SGF must be nailed even if he is not culpable. Rather, we urge the committee to be fair and firm in the discharge of its duty. It should, indeed, ensure that the body of evidence upon which Lawal’s guilt or innocence is hinged is as reasonable and as lucid as possible.