What Is Mr Buhari Still Doing With This Man As Secretary Of His Government After These Monumental Acts Of Corruption? By Frank Uche Dibia

When will Mr Buhari start setting example with corrupt officials within his own government, at least to show us he is really fighting corruption and not vendetta? 

Since the inception of this government, there has been quite a number of proven corrupt allegations. Most prominently was the findings of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which uncovered a staggering N500 million bribe asked for and collected by Mr Abba Kyari, president Buhari's Chief of Staff to help MTN drastically reduce the fine slapped on it by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC). 

There is an I don't care attitude of Mr Buhari to these substantial allegations of corruption against some senior public officials in his government. These allegations are in addition to substantial allegations of corruption against other senior officials like; Chief Rotimi Amaechi (Minister of Transport), Mr. Babatunde Fashola (Minister of Power, Works & Housing), Major General Tukur Buratai (Chief of Army Staff)

And now is the turn of the secretary to the government of the federation. Least you forget, these men have been making waves within and around the presidency that got them nicknamed ''cash and carry.'' None of the allegations against any of these officials have been thoroughly investigated neither have any of them faced sanctions of any sort. If anything, the Buhari administration has been very dismissive of the allegations and has treated calls for thorough investigations with disdain.

However, the controversy trailing the alleged mismanagement of funds meant for the care of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Boko Haram North East camp continued yesterday with the release of damning reports

Investigation report by the Cable.com yesterday revealed that Rholavision Engineering Ltd, a company owned by Babachir Lawal, allegedly received “N200m kickback from a contract he awarded at N246 million for the clearing of “invasive plant species” in Yobe State.

According to the report, “Rholavision bank statements and other documents showed that Josmon Technologies Ltd, a company, which got the contract from Lawal’s Presidential Initiative on Northeast (PINE) to clear grass for N248, 939, 231, made cash deposits of N10 million into Lawal’s company’s account 20 times from March 29.”

“Lawal awarded the contract to Josmon Technologies on March 8 while the company made the cash deposits until September when he resigned from Rholavision.” The SGF while reacting to a call for his resignation by the Senate on Wednesday claimed that he resigned from his company on August 15, 2015, and as a result was not a party to whatever business it contracted.

According to reports, “a document from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) showed that Lawal was a director of Rholavision until September 16, 2016 when he wrote to the commission informing it of his intention to relinquish 1, 500, 000 ordinary shares.”

It has been reported that PINE, which is under SGF could not account for over N2.5 billion allocated to it for the alleviation of the suffering of IDPs in the Northeast. The Senate had on Tuesday resolved to ask the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir Lawal, to immediately resign his position so as to face prosecution over alleged abuse of office, contract inflation and misappropriation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) funds. 

Frank Uche Dibia

Administrator Ouchfrandib Post