The committee that investigated allegations of corruption against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayo Oke, on Wednesday submitted its reports to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari had appointed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to head the committee to investigate allegations of financial misdeeds involving Lawal in contracts awarded for Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps in Borno State, including unearthing those behind the $143 million said to belong to NIA found in an apartment in Lagos.
Addressing State House correspondents after the submission of the reports behind closed door, Osinbajo declined to disclose some of the recommendations made by the committee to the President.
According to him, “This is a report which contains recommendations to the President. It is a fact finding committee as you know and what our terms of reference were, were to find out based on the facts that we had available to us and based on interview of witnesses what transpired in both cases that were before us.
“The one involving the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the one involving the D-G NIA, we have now concluded that and we have submitted a full report with recommendations to Mr President.”
The vice president said it was left for Buhari to take decision on the reports after studying the reports, adding, “Well I think that as you can imagine that we are always fair minded and the whole approach is to ensure that justice is done in all cases.
“It is in the interest of the government and also in the interest of the nation that things are done properly, that there is due process in anyway. That is the proper thing to do and you can be sure that we will do the right thing.”
Osinbajo told the correspondents that Buhari thanked the committee for a job well done and advised those waiting for the details of the reports to exercise patience.
The committee, which was set up on April 19, 2017, and handed down a two-week ultimatum to complete its work could not submit the reports, as the President left the country on May 7, 2017 for a medical follow-up in London, United Kingdom.
