By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Adamawa-born Babachir David Lawal was appointed as Secretary to the Government of the Federation on August 27, 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari. Before he ran into troubled waters over the alleged misappropriation and abuse of due process in the management of funds belonging to the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE), he was part of the powerful cabal in the presidency who enjoyed the listening ears of Mr. President. But not many of the close associates of Buhari were comfortable or happy with this. Consequently, in the ensuing power contention, there was a loud disquiet among those who felt that his contribution to the success of the APC in the 2015 was not commensurate to the power and influence he wielded in the administration.
Although Lawal had been an ardent supporter of President Buhari since 2002 when he took a plunge into politics as a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and later Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), it is generally believed that the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was instrumental to his emergence as SGF. Buhari was said to have had a different person in mind as his preferred choice for the position of SGF, but he decided to let Tinubu have his way in recognition of his role for the success of the party in the general elections. This did not, however, go down well with some members of Buhari’s kitchen cabinet who viewed the action of the National Leader as a deliberate move to establish his strong foothold in the administration.
As government’s scribe, Lawal carried out supervisory functions on some government departments and agencies. And he didn’t hide the big influence he wielded in the administration. At a point, his influence on the Buhari government became so pronounced that many people held him responsible for non-constitution of many boards of Federal Government agencies and parastatals.
It was gathered that the prominent role he played in certain critical decision-making partly culminated in some untoward developments that compelled the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, to cry out, saying that the government of Buhari had been hijacked. The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, during his trial by the Code of Conduct Tribunal had also at one time alleged that a powerful cabal had hijacked power from the Buhari administration.
Speculations are rife that some individuals within the presidency might have instigated the Senate to carry out the investigation that indicted the embattled SGF leading to his ultimate suspension.
Battles to stay afloat
Right from the outset, Lawal had been in constant struggle with a host of political adversaries who were opposed to his emergence as SGF. But for his deft political maneuvering, he would have been long shown the way out. However, he seemed to have lost the battle to save his job the very day the wife of the President raised the alarm over an alleged hijack of power from Buhari’s government. From then on, his several spirited moves to stay afloat had been to no avail.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the Senate’s report which indicted him of receiving N200 million contract to clear “invasive plant species” in Yobe State through a company, Rholavision Nigeria Limited. Following the submission of interim report of its ad-hoc committee on humanitarian crisis in the North East led by Senator Shehu Sani, the Senate had in December last year asked President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend Lawal and ensure his prosecution over alleged breach of Nigerian laws in handling the contracts awarded by the PINE.
But in a quick bid to prove his innocence, the suspended SGF dismissed the senate’s report as “balderdash”, saying “it is very instructive that when the committee was sitting, no effort was ever made to invite me to come and make a submission”. He also pointed out that the report of the committee was signed by three of the nine members, thus making its report a minority report.
Even then, his indictment became an albatross on the anti-corruption war of the Buhari administration, as many dismissed the approach as travesty of justice. Knowing that the case could no longer be swept under the carpet, Lawal decided to change tactics by launching the campaign for Buhari’s second term. Giving a hint on the 2019 game plan, he was quoted to have said: “Nigeria will never go back to the position it was before 2015. The foundation being laid by the government is solid. And nobody, even after the President has finished his eight years, can ever take us back to the pre-2015 days.”
Until Buhari finally slammed the embattled SGF with the recent suspension order, he never relented on his oars, as he continued to fight on with a bold face.
Babachir Lawal’s many blunt and straight views
By Olakunle Olafioye
The office of the Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria (SGF) is one position many may be quick to liken to the proverbial glass house by virtue of its sensitivity to governance. But its occupation by Babachir Lawal, whose suspension was ordered by President Muhmmadu Buhari last Wednesday, had ironically witnessed a number of flints thrown from the office since August 27, 2015, when the pendulum of one of the most coveted political appointments swung in favour of the Adamawa born politician.
The first major indication of Babachir’s trouble days as SGF emerged on Saturday, October 17, 2015 during a thanksgiving service organised to celebrate his new appointment. While appreciating those believed to have played vital roles in his emergence as the SGF, Babachir was reported to have said that left for his northern Nigerian kinsmen he would never have been in contention for the exalted office of the SGF.
His decision to single out the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and a few other stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South-west for commendation at the event was believed to have elicited bad blood in some northern politicians who perhaps felt slighted by his utterance.
The dust generated by his offensive utterance had hardly settled when the SGF fired another salvo when he described the 2014 National Conference organised by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan as “job for the boys.” Babachir, while responding to questions during an interview session was quoted to have said the current administration was too busy to consider the report of the confab which, according to him was merely “job for the boys.”
Confab participants who were angered by the statement took turns to express their frustration and disappointment at the comment credited to the SGF.
The deputy chairman of the conference, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, who led the counter-offensive against the SGF, was quoted to have said: “I have no quarrel with the SGF reiterating the opposition of government to the 2014 National Conference. But I find the language in which his views are couched to be crude, rude, offensive and unbecoming of the high office of state he occupies.
“He referred to delegates as “boys”. Boys? Among the delegates are the Emir of Ilorin, the Lamido of Adamawa, King Alfred Diete Spiff, the Gbong Gwom of Jos, Emir of Yauri, Emir of Dutse, Emir of Askira, the Amanyanabo of Nembe, various judges of High Courts. Boys!”
The SGF was however unrelenting in his contentious stance as he would later stoke another controversy which necessitated his being summoned by the Senate on July 12, 2016 over his claim over constituency projects.
On June 28, 2016, report credited the SGF with another statement wherein he was alleged to have said that the government might find it very difficult to implement the constituency projects to the latter because MDAs might not find constituency projects as critical to the execution of their mandate given the dwindling resources.
When he finally appeared before the Senate, the SGF justified his statement on paucity of funds blaming the slide in oil revenue as a result of the activities of Niger-Delta militants. But the lawmakers would not entertain his excuse, insisting that the projects were captured in the 2016 budget and as such could not be dismissed informally by the executive.