Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open
\nletter to President Muhammadu Buhari urging him to use his good offices
\nand leadership position \u201cto urgently refer the allegations of corruption
\nagainst the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir
\nDavid Lawal to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the
\nIndependent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)
\nfor further investigation, and if there is relevant and sufficient
\nadmissible evidence, for him to face prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organization also urged President Buhari to \u201curgently publish the
\noutcome of the investigation conducted on the matter by the Attorney
\nGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN,
\nand to ask Mr Malami to hand over the file to both the EFCC and ICPC.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the letter dated 27 January 2017 and signed by SERAP executive director
\nAdetokunbo Mumuni, the organization said, \u201cWe are concerned that the
\nfailure to suspend Mr Lawal from his position as Secretary to the
\nGovernment of the Federation pending the investigation by Mr Malami, and
\nthe perceived lack of transparency in the outcome of that investigation
\nmay have created the impression that your government is treating Mr Lawal
\nas a sacred cow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter copied to the Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbayo reads in
\npart: \u201cSERAP believes that Mr Lawal\u2019s case presents your Administration
\nwith a real opportunity to reassure a lot of Nigerians who may be worried
\nabout the direction of travel of your anti-corruption agenda. Rather than
\nassuming a defensive posture to the matter, we advise you to use this case
\nto show to Nigerians that there will be no two standards of justice in
\nyour Administration\u2019s fight against corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP also believes the recommended approach would help to address the
\ngrowing public suspicion and pessimism about your government\u2019s ability to
\nfight high-level official corruption to a standstill, and to avoid any
\ncollateral consequences. It is absolutely important that the public should
\nhave complete confidence and trust in your Administration\u2019s oft-repeated
\ncommitment to fight corruption and the impunity of perpetrators.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is true that Mr Lawal enjoys a constitutionally and internationally
\nguaranteed right to a fair trial, which includes the right to be\u00a0presumed
\ninnocent unless and until proved guilty by a court of competent
\njurisdiction. But we believe that the right to presumption of innocence is
\none that should have personally be raised by Mr Lawal and not your
\ngovernment, especially given his position as Secretary to the Government
\nof the Federation. SERAP believes that the guilt or innocence of Mr Lawal
\nis for the court to decide, following a due process of law.”<\/p>\n
\u201cTo assist the government to achieve public confidence and trust,
\neffectively spread the gospel of anticorruption, and be on the right side
\nof history, SERAP made the following recommendations:<\/p>\n
Urgently refer the allegations against Mr Lawal to both the EFCC and ICPC
\nfor further investigations, and if there is relevant and sufficient
\nadmissible evidence, for him to face prosecution;
\nPending the referral to the EFCC and ICPC, to suspend Mr Lawal from his
\nposition as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, pending the
\noutcome of any investigation by the EFCC and ICPC;
\nPromptly and widely publish the outcome of investigation carried out by Mr
\nMalami and instruct that any files relating to that investigation be
\nhanded over to the EFCC and ICPC to assist in their follow-up
\ninvestigation<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP notes that following a report by the Senate ad hoc committee which
\nindicted Mr Lawal over alleged breach of Nigeria\u2019s law in handling
\ncontracts awarded by the Presidential Initiative for the North East, PINE,
\nyou reportedly instructed Mr Malami to carry out further investigation
\ninto the allegation. Among other allegations contained in the Senate\u2019s
\nreport is that Mr. Lawal\u2019s company, Global Vision Ltd benefited from
\ninflated contracts of over N200 million to clear \u2018invasive plant specie\u2019
\nin Yobe State. According to the report, Mr. Lawal was still the director
\nof Global Vision as of the time the contract was awarded in March 2016,
\nand remains the signatory to the company\u2019s account.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP further notes your instruction to Mr Malami to carry out further
\ninvestigation into the allegations, as well as your recent letter to the
\nSenate effectively raising some technical and procedural concerns about
\nthe report which indicted Mr. Lawal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari urging him to use his good offices and leadership position \u201cto urgently refer the allegations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n