The suspension of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal by President Muhammadu Buhari could not come long enough for many as his suspension has been expected for quite a long time.
He was suspended in connection with the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE), the agency set by the presidency as part of the humanitarian intervention efforts to restore normalcy to the North East and ensure the rehabilitation of the victims of insurgency.
Below is the sequence of events that led to his eventual suspension;
1.) His ICT company which he registered in 1990 under the name Rholavision Engineering Limited in Kaduna that specialises in providing cable installation and maintenance services, engineering and technical support services, software development and deployment and systems integration and customization services was awarded a grass clearing contract estimated to have cost between N200 and N270 million by PINE between March and September last year.
2.) In October 2016, the House of Reps said Lawal was responsible for the failure of the house committee to proceed with investigations into the diversion of IDP funds while the Senate on Tuesday, October 4 accused PINE of spending N1.3bn out of the N10bn budgeted for the region on bogus contracts.
3.) His resignation and prosecution was demanded by the Senate for over an alleged breach of the law because they saw it as a company owned by a top government official receiving a government contract.
According to reports, the contract was awarded to Rholavision in March 2016 and Babachir Lawal did not resign his position as Managing Director until September same year.
4.) The SGF responded to the calls for his sack by describing it as an attempt to rubbish his person. “The Senate is talking balderdash, it has developed the habit of Bring Him Down Syndrome,” he said.
5.) In a letter read by Senate President Bukola Saraki on Tuesday, January 24, President Muhammadu Buhari gave reasons as to while he could not remove and prosecute Lawal.
6.) Lawal also declined invitation from the Senate ad-hoc Committee to appear before it on Thursday, March 23, 2017 to clear the air on the allegations against him because he had gone to court to challenge his invitation.
7.) President Muhammadu Buhari finally succumbed to pressure yesterday, April 20 as he suspended Lawal alongside the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayodele Oke for the huge sums recovered by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos.
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