The double suspension by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday last week of Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir David Lawal and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency [NIA] Mr. Ayodele Oke was a mixed bag that earned both kudos and knocks from different sections of Nigerians for different reasons. Their suspension was announced in a statement by presidential spokesman Femi Adesina.  He said the president ordered their suspension from office pending the outcome of an investigation into two separate events. The investigation would be conducted by a three-man committee chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The two other members are Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN) and National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno. The committee has 14 days to submit its report to President Buhari. 

Oke’s suspension was prompt, by the Administration’s other standards. It followed the discovery by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] of huge monies stashed away in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos. The money included US $43 million, £27,000 and N23 million, a total of N15 billion at official exchange rates. All the persons initially suspected of owning the Towers, the flat where the money was found as well as the money denied it, vehemently. Some actors stridently accused others of owning the money, though without proof. Rivers State Government for example said the money belonged to it because its chief political opponent, former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, allegedly stole it from its coffers and stashed it away. It had no proof other than political mischief to back this sensational allegation.

Astonishingly, this country’s agency for foreign espionage, NIA, stepped forward and claimed that the money belongs to it. Though NIA never issued a statement and its bosses never spoke publicly, its officials called media houses one by one and laid claim to the money. It said the money was approved by the Jonathan regime for covert operations. A barrage of questions immediately followed, including what kind of undercover operation needed N15bn, why the money was hidden in a private property and not in a bank or NIA facility, why it took more than two years to carry out the operation and, most crucially, why NIA never briefed President Buhari on this operation. Director General Oke’s suspension is therefore richly deserved; the only surprise is why he was not arrested as well.

On the other hand, the suspension of SGF Babachir David Lawal was long overdue. It was four months ago that the Senate Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crises in the North East found that he inappropriately awarded contracts worth millions of naira to companies in which he had interest under the Presidential Initiative on the North East. Though the monies in this fund are meant to alleviate the suffering of millions of Internally Displaced Persons [IDPs] in the North East, the Senate committee said Lawal approved contracts worth hundreds of millions of naira to cut grass in Yobe State, so-called “invasive species,” a contract that Yobe State officials said was never executed. Even worse, the Senate panel uncovered evidence that the contractors turned around and transferred most of the money to a company that Lawal owns. The Senate adopted the committee’s report and asked Buhari to sack the SGF.

Shockingly, the president dilly-dallied on this matter. In December he asked Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN to conduct the probe. Many people cried “cover up.” Malami’s report was never made public but President Buhari said in January that Senate’s committee did not give Lawal a fair hearing. This was not correct because the committee invited Lawal privately and through newspaper ads, and a perm sec in his office replied to the committee in writing. Still, when the president said that, the committee headed by Senator Shehu Sani [APC, Kaduna North] again invited Lawal to appear before it. He then rushed to court to seek a restraining injunction, a most terrible way to defend oneself against fraud charges. That episode prompted Sani to say that Buhari treats his political opponents with insecticide and while he treats his loyalists accused of the same offences with deodorant.

In the light of all the foregoing, we demand that the probe of these two men should be conducted in public, not privately by a committee of Lawal’s colleagues in the Executive Branch. We are not questioning the integrity of the Vice President or of the other panel members but the only way to convince Nigerians that justice is served is to conduct both probes in public. In the case of Babachir, most of the evidence obtained by the Senate committee was extracted through public testimony so it is only fair that he should give his own side of the story in public. He should either be made to go and do that before the same Senate committee or the president should constitute a public investigation panel. It must be noted that the AGF that earlier cleared him in a secret probe is a member of this panel.

As for Mr. Oke, the public should also hear where this money came from and why it was hidden in a private flat, a so-called safe house. If the details of what the money was meant for will compromise state security, that aspect can be kept away from the public. Neither Oke nor NIA should be allowed to get away with criminality in the name of state security. The Osinbajo committee is not the best way to probe these two matters. We demand a public probe of both top officials.   

POSTED BY:OPUOMONI PRIYE

DATE:04/28/2017