TheCable

The panel headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has written the senate to request the report which of the committee which investigate Babachir Lawal, suspended secretary to the government of the federation.

Shehu Sani, chairman, of the ad hoc committee on mounting humanitarian crisis in the north-east, disclosed this in an interview with reporters on Wednesday.

According to Sani, the vice-president stated in the letter that the committee required documents from the senate for appropriate consideration.

“The presidential committee set up to look into allegations of due process violation in award of contracts under Presidential Initiatives on North-East (PINE) has written to us to make available report our findings,” he said.

“I confirm that we got the letter and we will provide the documents to the committee.”

The senate committee had indicted Lawal and recommended his dismissal.

Meanwhile, the panel of Osinbajo met at the state house, Abuja on Wednesday.‎

The meeting, which started around 6:45pm, had only members of the committee – Babagana Monguno, national security adviser, and Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice – in attendance.

‎The committee was mandated to investigate allegations of contract fraud against Lawal.

It was also tasked to investigate the claim of Ayo Oke, suspended director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), on some monies discovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

As of press time, it was not clear if Oke or Lawal will appear before the panel on Wednesday.

However, a source privy to the meeting said it was to review what the panel had gathered from the investigation so far.
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The committee is expected to submit its report by next week.

On Monday, the committee grilled Oke for about 10 hours while it questioned Lawal for two hours on Tuesday.