Embarrassed by the plethora of allegations against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir David Lawan President Muhammadu Buhari has removed him as chairman of the presidential committee on the reconstitution of federal government boards of parastatals, agencies and commissions.
In his stead, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was appointed to chair the presidential committee.
The action of Mr President against Babachir reflects his disappointment at the SGF who has been variously accused of acts unbecoming of a member of the cabinet of a government that professes anti-corruption.
Inside Aso Rock sources said the SGF had mounting allegations of how he over-stepped his bounds by trying to make appointments into boards another cash cow. President Buhari was said to have scolded the SGF on several occasions but the allegations kept mounting.
The chairman of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agencies (NDLEA) Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah was also appointed to head the secretariat of the committee at the instance of the vice president, the source said.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has recently queried the SGF over alleged fraud at the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE).
The Senate ad-hoc committee on the crisis of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Northeast had accused the SGF of several misdeeds including failing to account for N2.5 billion PINE funds. The SGF had however denied all the allegations.
In his New Year message, Buhari admitted that his “government is aware of some mistakes and wrongdoings in handling the affairs of IDPs. “We are taking measures to correct those mistakes and punish the culprits,” he said.
Buhari had in October, 2015 empowered an eight-member committee, headed by Babachir, to compile names of prospective appointees into federal government boards, parastatals and agencies.
Members of the committee included Alhaji Mai Mala Buni (northeast), Alhaji Zakari Ede (northcentral), Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir (northwest), Chief Hillard Etagbo Eta (south-south), Chief Pius Akinyelure (southwest), Chief Emmanuel Eneukwe (south east) and Mr. Gideon Sammani, a senior special assistant to the president as secretary.
Some members of the committee had complained that the SGF took arbitrary decisions on certain issues bordering on appointment.
His sack as chair of the committee, Aso Rock sources said, will pave the way for his early exit from Buhari’s cabinet where many see him as an albatross of the President’s anti-corruption war.
