President Muhammadu Buhari has terminated the
appointments of the suspended Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Babachir David Lawal and the Director-General of the National
Intelligence Agency, Ayo Oke.
The president also appointed Mr Boss
Mustapha as the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Mustapha's appointment takes immediate
effect, according to a statement on Monday by the Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina.
The new Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, until his appointment, was the Managing Director/Chief Executive
Officer of the National inland waterways Authority (NIWA).
Daily Trust had exclusively reported on July
30 that the three-man investigation panel headed by Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo recommended that Babachir and Oke be sacked.
Adesina confirmed Monday that Buhari
terminated Babachir and Oke's appointments after studying and accepting the
report of the panel which also had the National Security Adviser, Babagana
Monguno and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, as
members.
The presidential spokesman said President
Buhari accepted the recommendation of the panel to terminate Babachir's
appointment.
Adesina said the president also approved the
recommendation to terminate Oke's appointment.
He said Buhari further approved the setting
up of a three-member panel to, among other things, look into the operational,
technical and administrative structure of the NIA and make appropriate
recommendations.
President Buhari had on April 19 suspended
Babachir and Oke and set up the panel to investigate alleged infractions
against both officials within a period of two weeks.
Consequently, the most senior Permanent
Secretary in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
Dr Habibat Lawal and Oke’s senior deputy, Ambassador Arab Yadam, had since
acted as SGF and Director-General of the NIA respectively.
Osinbajo had on August 23 submitted the
report of the investigations to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Babachir was probed for allegedly awarding
millions of naira contracts to a company in which he had interest, Global
Vision Limited, under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).
A Senate Committee on Humanitarian Crisis in
the North-East, which had earlier found the suspended SGF culpable of alleged
complicity in a N200 million grass-cutting contract to clear “invasive plant
species” in Yobe State, had demanded his resignation and prosecution.
Oke was investigated for alleged $43.4
million operations cash found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
at apartment 7B in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos. He had reportedly claimed that
the money belonged to the NIA and was approved by former President Goodluck
Jonathan for some covert operations.
The panel was mandated to uncover the
circumstances by which the NIA came into possession of the funds and find out
how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA as
well as to establish whether or not there was a breach of the law or security
procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds.
Source: Dailytrust
No comments: