Fresh crisis between the Presidency
and the Senate looms as indications emerged
yesterday that senators are calling on
President Muhammadu Buhari to dissolve the
Presidential Advisory Committee against
Corruption, PACAC, led by Professor Itse
Sagay, SAN, for incompetence.
Buhari and Bukola Saraki
This is coming weeks after the Upper Chamber
of the National Assembly summoned Sagay for
describing senators’ actions as childish and
irresponsible, a summon he failed to honour.
The call for the dissolution was made
yesterday by the Chairman, Senate Ad hoc
Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in
the North East, Senator Shehu Sani, APC,
Kaduna Central.
But Prof Sagay, in a swift reaction, accused
the Senate of working assiduously to whittle
down the anti-corruption war of the
government.
Speaking with journalists, Senator Sani, who
noted that the President did not need a forum
of advisers on corruption to effectively fight
corruption, said the suspension of the
Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, SGF, Mr Babachir Lawal, was a
clear indication that the committee, which
once defended the SGF, was not competent.
Sani said: “President Muhammadu Buhari
should, as a matter of urgency, dissolve his
Presidential Advisory Council on Corruption. It
is a moribund and irrelevant assemblage.
“The Presidential Advisory Committee, headed
by a man who defended the SGF is without
honour. Professor Sagay attacked me for my
report on PINE, now that the President has
taken steps in the direction of the committee
report, I hope the Prof will muster the courage
to also attack the President. The advisory
committee was looking for corruption in
Sokoto, while it’s there in Shokoto.
“It is sad that most of the mercenary forces
hired to rubbish the integrity of the Senate
Committee and defend those indicted have
suddenly lost their voice.”
He, however, lamented that the humanitarian
situation in the North East was made an
industry where government officials and even
NGOs profited from the suffering and hardship
of millions of victims.
According to him, while some people saw the
millions of orphans and widows produced by
the crisis as victims, others saw them as cash
cows.
It would be recalled that Mr Femi Adesina,
Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, who announced the suspension in a
statement on Wednesday, said Buhari also
ordered investigation into allegations of
violations of law and due process against the
SGF.
The Senate had on December 14, 2016, called
for the resignation and prosecution of the
Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, SGF, Mr Babachir Lawal, following
alleged complicity in the diversion of North
East humanitarian funds.
The Senate Ad hoc Committee on Mounting
Humanitarian Crises in the North-East had, in
an interim report, indicted Lawal in the award
of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on
the North-East, PINE.
The call for Lawal’s resignation followed
alleged contravention of the provisions of
Public Procurement Act and the Federal
Government Financial Rules and Regulations
pertaining to award of contracts.
Contacted, chairman of Presidential Advisory
Committee against Corruption, Professor Itse
Sagay, lampooned the Senate for making such
a recommendation, accusing the Senate of
working towards ensuring that the anti-
corruption war was whittled down.
Sagay said: “Their reactions show that they
are ignorant and they are also prejudiced
because of the role we are playing in
frustrating their attempt to water down the
anti-corruption struggle.
‘’So, this is a reaction to the fact that we are
supporting the struggle against corruption by
upholding Ibrahim Magu, who has been very
successful in that struggle. They (Senate) are
frustrated.
‘’Let me say this, this Senate is supposed to
have been elected on the platform of All
Progressives Congress, APC, but from all
indications, it is a hostile character and a big
mistake to have been elected on the platform
of the APC.
“Infact, it is agents of the PDP and other
unsavoury characters in the Senate who are
ruining this country for no just cause. So, I am
not surprised, it is against the anti-corruption
struggle and they would not want us to survive
because our continued role and presence will
make it more difficult for corruption to
continue. So they are against us.”
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