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Buhari asks EFCC to proceed with investigation of Babachir Lawal, Oke

By: Bhodemarz on October 31, 2017 / comment : 0 , , ,

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday night said he was aware of the investigation of two sacked officials by anti-corruption agencies, saying the investigation should continue.

Mr. Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, in a statement said “the position of the President therefore is that investigation agencies which have already commenced the investigation of the two officers removed from office will go on with their work of investigation without any interference or hindrance.”
Mr. Shehu added that the president “who is fully conversant with the provisions of the constitution will not stop the investigation of anyone because he has no such power under our laws. This is a decision of the Supreme Court.”
The spokesperson was reacting to criticisms that trailed the sack of Babachir Lawal and Ayodele Oke, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and former head of the National Intelligence Agency respectively.
President Buhari had ordered the sack of both men earlier on Monday following a review of a panel report that investigated allegations against them. The panel was headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Many Nigerians, though commended the dismissal of both men, asked that Mr. Buhari order their arrest and prosecution.
Mr. Shehu, however, indicated that the two men were already being investigated by the anti-corruption agencies.
“Based on his wish and desire for a strict observance of the law, the President expects the EFCC, ICPC and such agencies to proceed with ongoing investigations,” the spokesperson said.
“When and where they have reasonable grounds to charge former or serving officers to court under our laws, they do not require the permission of the President to do so,” he added.
THE INDICTMENT
The spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Wilson Uwujaren, could not be reached for comments about the status of the investigations.
However, the panel headed by Mr. Osinbajo found Mr. Lawal culpable in a slew of allegations that included questionable diversion of funds meant for the internally displaced persons in the North-east.
Consequently, the investigative committee, which included Attorney-General Abubakar Malami and National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, recommended termination of Mr. Lawal’s appointment, the presidency said in a statement.
Mr. Oke was the head of NIA when the EFCC found N13billion belonging to the foreign intelligence office in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, on April 12.
As with Mr. Lawal, Mr. Osinbajo’s panel recommended Mr. Oke’s dismissal after looking into the circumstances surrounding the cash haul.
The panel submitted its report onAugust 23, but Mr. Buhari did not act on it until Monday. Another presidential aide, Femi Adesina, told Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ Monday evening that the president was being painstaking with the content of the report.
Before their appointments were ultimately terminated, Messrs. Lawal and Oke had been placed on suspensionsince April 19. They appeared before the panel on several occasions during its 14-day, closed-door sitting. 
DEMAND FOR PROSECUTION
While welcoming their sack on Monday evening, a civic rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, admonished Mr. Buhari to reassert his anti-corruption posture by calling for a thorough prosecution.
“This is a positive development in the fight against grand corruption, although this decision is coming rather late,” SERAP said in a statement signed by its deputy director, Timothy Adewale. “Buhari now has to go a step further by making sure that both Lawal and Oke are promptly brought to justice in fair trials.”
“What the government needs at this time is a revolutionary approach to the fight against corruption if Buhari is to show his commitment to ‘kill’ corruption before corruption ‘kills’ Nigeria.
“Without effective prosecution of high-ranking public officials charged with corruption, this government’s fight against corruption may sadly turn out to be all motion and no movement, and this will eventually undermine the legitimacy of the anti-corruption efforts,” Mr. Adewale said.
The group also reminded Mr. Buhari to pursue criminal charges against the fugitive former head of presidential task force on pension reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina.
Mr. Maina was revealed byPREMIUM TIMES penultimate Friday as having sneaked back into the public service four years after he was sacked for alleged pension fraud.
Mr. Buhari ordered Mr.Maina’s dismissal with immediate effect and called for an investigation into how he was recalled.
“Buhari also has to move swiftly to publish a report of the investigation into the secret reinstatement of the fugitive former civil servant, Abdulrasheed Maina, and without delay identify and bring to justice anyone suspected to be involved,” SERAP said.
PAST ARREST CALLS
While President Buhari did not authorise the immediate arrest of Mr. Lawal and Oke, he has ordered arrests of persons indicted of corruption in the past.
When Mr. Buhari received the reports of the presidential arms probe panel in 2015, he ordered immediate arrest or former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and other officials of the last administration who were indicted.
Mr. Buhari raised the Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Nigerian Armed Forces on August 24, 2015, in furtherance of his “determination to stamp out corruption and irregularities in Nigeria’s public service.”
The panel submitted its interim report on November 17, 2015, finding Mr. Dasuki culpable in the award of “fictitious and phantom contracts to the tune of N2,219,188,609.50; 1,671,742,613.58 dollars and 9,905,477.00 Euros,” amongst others.
Soon after receiving the report, Mr. Buhari “directed the relevant organisations to arrest and bring to book, all individuals who have been found complicit in these illegal and fraudulent acts,” according to a State House statement on November 17, 2015.

Source: PremiumTimes

Full profile of Boss Gida Mustapha, the new SGF to replace Babachir Lawal

By: Bhodemarz on October 30, 2017 / comment : 0 , ,

Mr. Boss Gida Mustapha is a lawyer, management consultant, politician, business man and boardroom guru of considerable repute. 
Born in Adamawa State, Mr Mustapha attended Hong Secondary School, in Hong Adamawa state and North East College of Arts and Sciences Maiduguri Borno state, crowning it with WASC and HSC in 1976. He earned his Bachelor of Law (LL.B) from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1979 and was called to bar in 1980. From 1980 to 1981, Mr Mustapha did the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) – Directorate of Legal of legal Services at the Army Headquarters and was in charge of review of Court Marshall Proceedings.
After his National Service, he joined Sotesa Nigeria Limited, an Italian consultancy firm, as an Executive Director in charge of Administration, leaving in 1983 to join the prestigious law firm Messrs Onagoruwa & Co in Lagos.
With his law practice fully taken off, he was appointed Principal Counsel in the firm Messrs Mustapha & Associates, His legal interests and expertise included privatization commercialization and Liberalization of Public Companies/Corporate and Government Parastatals. He was also involved in preparation of varied and miscellaneous banking documents such as Debentures, Guarantees, Mortgages, Bonds and Loan Syndications.
One of Mr. Mustapha’s career highlights was his appointment as a member of Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the defunct Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF), serving meritoriously from 2000 to 2007. At the PTF, he was responsible for production of an up-to-date comprehensive project and programme report, including location, coverage and whether performed, performing or abandoned production of final report of Assets and Liabilities, examination of the Administrative structure and cost effectiveness of pf Projects and Services among other duties.
Mr. Mustapha also played key leadership roles at the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) serving as Social Secretary and Chairman at the Yola branch.
After his stint at the PTF in 2007, Mr. Mustapha was appointed Principal Partner of the law firm, Adroit Lex. His law practice and the burning desire to serve the larger society conspired to attract the MD into politics, at various times, he was member Federal Republic of Nigeria Constituent Assembly (1988-1989), Chairman People’s Solidarity Party-Gongola State (1989-1990), state chairman, Social Democratic Party-Gongola State (1990-1991); he was even a gubernatorial candidate for SDP in Adamawa state in 1991. He was the Deputy National Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria from 2010 to 2013. 
In 2007, he again played a prominent role, serving as the Deputy Director General of the party’s Presidential campaign Organization. His services remained in high demand after the fusing of ACN joined forces with other parties to form the All Progressive Congress (APC). He was a member of NCC and Secretary APC Presidential Campaign Organization Mobilization (2015) and member, APC Transition Committee (2015). He is also a member, APC Board of Trustees.
In addition to the NBA, he is a member of various professional bodies including African Bar Association (ABA), Commonwealth Lawyers Association, International Bar Association (IBA) and Human Rights Institute (HRI). But Mr. Mustapha’s accomplishments go beyond politics and the Bar; he is respected boardroom guru, having been appointed into the boards of several companies in the manufacturing financial services as well as oil and gas sectors. He is the National Vice President, Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship international Nigeria.
He has travelled extensively visiting no fewer than 30 countries, and always taken interest in how waterways assets are managed in those countries. His address to management staff on assuming office set the tone style and direction of his administration. He stressed teamwork and the need to focus on the Authority’s vision and mission. He also said: “Just call me Boss, there is no need calling me Manager; I don’t have nicknames.”
Mr. Mustapha who is married with children, enjoys golf, lawn tennis, travelling, documentary films, charity work and meeting people.


Source: Daily Trust

Buhari sacks Babachir Lawal, Ayodele Oke; appoints Boss Mustapha as new SGF

By: Bhodemarz on October 30, 2017 / comment : 0 , ,

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


OLUSEGUN ADENIYI: PRESIDENT BUHARI HAS PROVEN HIS CRITICS RIGHT

By: Bhodemarz on September 29, 2017 / comment : 0 , , , , ,

When on 19th April this year President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke, he instituted a three-man committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to investigate the allegations against the duo. For those who felt that setting a committee to deal with straight-forward matters was needless, they were comforted by the fact that there would be a quick closure on the matter since the committee had just two weeks to submit its report.
However, more than five months after, the opposition politicians who dismiss President Buhari’s war against graft as insincere in conception and selective in implementation may be having the last laugh. In case the president is not aware, the talk in town is that the much-touted war of his administration against corruption is more a weapon to deal with political opponents than an agenda to enthrone transparency and accountability in Nigeria. And he has done so much in the last two years to prove them right.
Regardless of all the tales about the former Petroleum Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke and Dame Patience Jonathan, which is all that the corruption war has been reduced to lately, what discerning Nigerians can see is the same hypocrisy, deceit and double standards of the past. While I support all genuine efforts to rid our country of corruption and all forms of abuses within the system, such efforts must be blind to personal or political affiliations of the leader if it is to be enduring. Selective application of those to hold accountable and those to allow free reign can only undermine any attempt to fight graft. Unfortunately, that is what is happening in Nigeria today.
Indeed, there is a general perception that this administration protects its own and that may explain why many opposition politicians who have corruption cases against them are trooping to the All Progressive Congress (APC) where the broom is evidently big enough to sweep any and every act of corruption under the Aso Rock carpet. In a way, the statement by Senator Shehu Sani has become prophetic: “When it comes to fighting corruption in the National Assembly and the Judiciary and in the larger Nigerian sectors, the President uses insecticide, but when it comes to fighting corruption within the Presidency, they use deodorants.”
Against the background that President Buhari came to power with his personal integrity and a campaign promise that he would fight corruption in office, Senator’s Sani’s description, which fits, should compel introspection in Aso Rock. After several political bigwigs in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been called to account, including some of them being handcuffed to court, the big one came when a committee of the Senate, controlled by the same ruling party, indicted the SGF of fiddling with the money meant for the most vulnerable of our society: those displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.
The expectation was that the president would use the opportunity to prove the credibility of his anti-corruption war. One, the president said, and quite correctly, that Lawal had a right to defend himself against allegations of impropriety, a right he believed the Senate denied his man before coming up with the report. So, one cannot fault the president’s decision to subject the Senate report to his own investigation. Two, the person involved is close to President Buhari who has a reputation when it comes to dealing with friends and associates. It is said that if you have the trust of the president, you can get away with any wrongdoing because he would defend you regardless of the evidence.
Given the foregoing, Nigerians waited eagerly to see how the president would handle this scandal. In the statement signed by presidential spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, a three-man committee comprising the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the National Security Adviser and headed by the Vice President was directed to investigate “the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal, in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).”
The same committee was also directed “to conduct a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has made a claim.” The investigation, according to the statement, “is also to enquire into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds.”
As it turned out, the investigations commenced the day the president was travelling out of the country on a medical vacation that lasted more than a hundred days. But upon return, the report was submitted to him on 23rd August with so much song and dance. In fact, the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) that was scheduled to hold the next day was cancelled because, as we were told, the president was busy reading the report.
Unfortunately, more than a month after receiving the said report, the president has done nothing about the matter thus confirming Senator Sani’s declaration. Yet, if the war against corruption in Nigeria is to have any meaning, the targets of those to scrutinize and the reward system cannot continue to be selective. You cannot treat some corruption cases with insecticide and some others with deodorant and expect anybody to take you seriously.
To the extent that justice is the anchor of peace and the premise of social development, it is easy to locate some of the current problems in the country in the arbitrary use of power and the promotion of selective application of justice. And when such becomes manifest in the public space, as it is in Nigeria today, what follows is that the people will begin to lose trust in both the leader and the system.

The most significant appeal of President Buhari’s candidacy in 2015 was the national consensus then that he would be principled, decisive, firm and precise on matters of public morality. Sadly, his failure to act promptly and decisively at critical moments when the public expected clarity has dulled his original appeal and cast doubts on his sincerity. In the process, the dividing line between right and wrong in our nation has further blurred. Therefore, the burden for the president at this most critical period is twofold: first to salvage the credibility of his wobbly administration and, most importantly, to restore public confidence in his personal integrity as a genuine national leader and moral beacon.

Olusegun Adeniyi, Chairman of THISDAY Editorial Board.

Source: ynaija.com

Buhari has final say on SGF, NIA Boss probe, says Osinbajo

By: Bhodemarz on August 24, 2017 / comment : 0 , , ,

 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday said that President Muhammadu Buhari has the final say on the report of the Presidential investigative panel that probed of the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayo Oke.
Speaking with State House correspondents after submitting the report to Buhari, Osinbajo, said that it was now left for the President to study it before arriving at a decision.
He declined to comment on the recommendations of the report.
Asked what the report contained, he said “Of course not. I mean this is a report which contains recommendations to the President.
It is a fact finding committee as you know and what our terms of reference were was to find out based on the fact available to us and based on the interviews of witnesses of what transpired in those cases of the report one involving the SGF and the other the DG of NIA.
“We have now concluded that and we submitted a full report with recommendations to the President. We cannot of course give you any kind of details because the President has to look at the report, study it and then make his own decisions based on that report.”
On whether the government is going to look at the SGF report from the angle of justice or as close friend, he said “Well as you can imagine we are always fair minded and the whole approach is to ensure that justice is done in all cases.
“It is in the interest of the government and also the interest of the nation that things are done properly and that there is due process and that we are not unfair. You can be sure that we will do the right thing.
Asked how soon the President will decide on the report, Osinbajo said “All I can now say is that we have submitted the report to the President and it is a very detailed report as a matter of fact.
The President has to study the report and make decisions.
Pressed further to give insight into the report, he said “Of course I cannot, how can I? This is a document which has just been submitted to the President. He is the one who will read the recommendations and the facts and then make a decision.
On whether heads will roll, he said “No, how can I tell you? If you want to know what is in the report you have to wait, you really have to wait.”
Lawal was investigated for allegations of violations of law and due process in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).
Oke, on the other hand, was probed over the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Twitter: @naijapoliticko


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