President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected the recommendation by the Senate that he should sack Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Engr. David Babachir Lawal.
President Buhari has chosen to stick with Engr. Babachir despite indictment in corrupt practices by a senate ad-hoc committee.
The president conveyed his decision to the upper house of legislature in a read out by the president of the senate Bukola Saraki at the start of plenary on Tuesday, January 24.
One of the reasons that the president gave was that he had concerns about the number of people that signed the recommendation which was made by a senate adhoccommittee on the Humanitarian crisis in the northeast headed by Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna central.
Another reason the president gave was the lack of quorum in arriving at the recommendation.
According to him, it seemed somewhat off that only 3 out of the 9 people that made up the committee signed the recommendation.
Also, the president wondered how the Senate arrived at the call for Babachir's removal when the SGF was never called upon by a senate panel or the committee itself to defend himself.
President Buhari also questioned why the Senate did not invite the company allegedly own by Babachir through which some of the corrupt activities the Senate complained were carried out.
Recall that the senate’s ad-hoc committee on the Humanitarian crisis in the North East indicted the secretary to the state government Babachir Lawal for allegedly handing out of fraudulent contracts in the IDP camps in the northeast.
Chairman of the committee Senator Shehu Sani, while presenting the committee’s interim report, revealed that the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) allegedly approved contracts for projects that were not directly related to the plight of the IDPs.
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