Babachir’s Sack Stalls SGF, SSGs Retreat

BY VICTOR JEMMY, ABUJA – 

The recent suspension of Babachir David Lawal as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) has put spanners in the planned 2017 retreat for the SGF office and Secretaries to State Governments (SSGs) across the country.

The annual retreat, earlier slated for Yola, the Adamawa state capital between Sunday, April 23 and Tuesday, April 25, has been put on hold indefinitely.

Director of Press in the SGF office, Bolaji Adebiyi said in a statement in Abuja that the planned retreat has been shelved and a new date will be announced soon.

According to the statement, “The annual retreat of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation with Secretaries to the State Governments scheduled to hold in Yola, Adamawa state, has been postponed.”

It further said: “A new date will be communicated to all participants and invited guests in due course”, adding that, “The office of the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) regrets any inconvenience.”

A competent source at the SGF office told Forefront that the suspension the Babachir Lawal came so suddenly that it took everyone unawares putting all the preparations earlier made to host the yearly event in jeopardy.

The source said, “With Oga Babachir out of the way so suddenly, it becomes difficult to run things as planned because the system is one where disbursements of required funds for organising the event were directly handled by his office.”

“However, our concern is that the postponement has dislocated a lot of things, including logistics and personnel that were already on ground in Yola as the advance party to ensure a hitch-free and successful retreat”, the source added.