We will investigate SGF, Sani insists As committee meets APC NWC

CHAIRMAN, Senate ad hoc Committee on Humanitarian Crisis in the North-East, Senator Shehu Sani, has said nobody can stop his committee’s investigation on the alleged misappropriation of funds meant for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the zone.

Senator Sani made the declaration on Tuesday at the All Progressives Congress, (APC) national secretariat shortly after a closed door meeting with the national working committee of the party led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

His committee has called for the resignation and prosecution of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir Lawal, over infractions involving public procurement, particularly, contract awards by the Presidential Initiative on North-East (PINE).

Following the interim report of Senator Sani ad hoc committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North-East, the Senate accused the SGF of sharp practices in expending the funds meant for alleviating the sufferings of the displaced in North-East as well as other sharp practices.

A move by the Presidency to give the SGF a clean bill of health has led to criticism of the anti-corruption crusade of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration which senators described as selective.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the national working committee of the party expressed concern over the remarks attributed to Senator Sani on the floor of the Senate, which accused President Buhari of half-hearted commitment to his anti-corruption drive.

Speaking with newsmen, Senator Sani said his committee remained committed in its pursuit of its investigation to a logical conclusion.

He said:  “We are investigating the massive misappropriation of funds for IDPs in the North-East. Nobody can stop that.

“We are determined to do our work and have done an interim report and we are going to come out with the full details after this break and nobody in the party has said he is opposed to it. But I think that their major concern was my grammar.

“Sacking the SGF is not about Shehu Sani, but about the resolution of the Senate and what they said is binding on me. If the Senate says he should go, I share in that position and if they say he should remain, I share in that position too. I didn’t ask to be named chairman of the ad hoc committee and didn’t even know I was going to be in the committee. I was appointed and I have to do my job as it is and once I am done, I am out of it.”

Senator Sani, who denied any written invitation from the national working committee of the party, further disclosed to newsmen that the

Chief Oyegun-led national leadership of the party stated in clear terms that it was not comfortable with his consistent critique of the present administration on the floor of the Senate, just as it called for unity among lawmakers on the party platform.

“First, it is good to make clarification. The party did not write to invite me here for a meeting contrary to reports. But with my presence here, we have discussed a number of issues.

“The first is the need for unity in the APC caucus and the need for us to refocus ourselves. Since the two groups, the likeminds and the Unity Forum have fused to together.

“The second is what transpired after the interim report which I submitted on the floor of the Senate. First, I wanted clarification from them whether the party is opposed to the looting of the funds of the Presidential Initiative on the Humanitarian Crisis in theNorth-East.

They said the party was not opposed to it. I also asked them if the party was opposed to my interim report and they said no.

“And so, I asked what their issues were. They told me they were worried and concerned each time I fired some grammar in the Senate and it shocked and rattled them while destroying the solidarity within the party and they want me to slow down on some of these scud missiles.

“I told them that it is either my honour or that of the letter that was sent by the Presidency. I did not in any way attack the President, but I faulted the letter based on three issues. First, my name was omitted in the letter as Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc committee.

“Secondly, the SGF said we didn’t invite him, but we did invite him and thirdly, the letter said there was no quorum. I told them that in as much as my comment in deodorant and insecticide was rattling they should have invited the SGF who called the Senate and our report balderdash and they said they were also opposed to the language used.

“They said they don’t want us to wash our dirty linen in the public and I told them that at the end of the day, even if you wash your dirty linen inside the room, you will still have to dry them outside.

“I made clarifications that they are not opposed to corruption investigations, but they are worried by the missiles I used which is causing a lot of discomfort. I told them I was only using literary expressions to send my message. When I say deodorant or insecticide, it is a clear definition of the bipolar anti- corruption crusade that is going on in the country and I believe that there is the need for Nigerians to wake up to these realities.

“I made it clear to them that we are going to do our own report and continue to do it. I am glad that they are not opposed to our investigation and they are also not opposed to the continuation of our investigation. “I am an activist. My statement is my statement and it is very clear.

I think we owe our loyalty to three things. These are our conscience, our conviction and to our country and any other thing is secondary. What we should also know is that if you love a person, you tell him the truth and I believe if we as a government and as a party cannot tell ourselves the truth, then we have lost the moral right and authority to tell others the truth.”