NIA boss, Babachir Lawal’s suspension unavoidable – Itse Sagay

The chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Itse Sagay has said that the suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal and the director general of the National Intelligence Agency Ayo Oke was unavoidable.

Sagay while reacting to the suspension Wednesday, April 19, said the president took a right step in a right direction.

He said that Lawal violated the Code of Conduct for public office holders by awarding a contract to a company he had interest in.

Sagay said that the action of the SGF was in violation of the 1999 Constitution and public trust. “I think the suspensions are inevitable, and in my view they are a journey to total disengagement.

“The SGF is a top member of the administration. He should have known that for him to award a contract to his own company is absolutely prohibited by the Code of Conduct and the Constitution. What he was doing was illegal and unconstitutional,” Sagay said.

He also noted the purpose for which the SGF awarded the contract that nailed him is heinous.

“The worst is that he didn’t even award the contract for relevant activity such as for food, rather it was for grass cutting, which is totally unrelated to the needs of this people for very basic life saving materials,” the committee chairman said.

Also reacting to the suspension of the NIA boss, the professor said the agency and its leadership turned themselves to the government of the day.

“This one is even worse in my view. How can you hold over $40 million of state money in a private apartment, without the knowledge of the head of state to whom you’re responsible?” Sagay asked. He said: “So they’ve turned themselves into a government of their own. They didn’t inform the present administration that they got this money from the Jonathan administration and this is what it was meant for and this is what is left.”

“Once they didn’t do that, then they were all on a criminal conduct which should lead to what has happened now. It’s very clear that they intended to convert it to their private use. That’s why I said everything is inevitable.”

President Muhammadu Buhari had yesterday ordered the suspension of Lawal and Oke  after series of controversies over the popular ‘grass-cutting contract’ and the huge sum of money recovered from a luxurious apartment in Osborne, Ikoyi in Lagos state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).