Buhari has not cleared SGF, says Garba Shehu

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, has given a clarification on President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to the senate concerning the report of its investigation of allegations against Babachir Lawal, the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF).

Speaking on ‘Ra’ayi Riga’, a BBC Hausa audience participation programme, on Friday, Shehu said Buhari only acted in response to the senate’s report.

He said the criticisms the president received over the development were unwarranted “because his letter to the senate did not dwell on whether the SGF was guilty or not guilty”.

“What President Buhari has done is simply to act in a response to a report by the SGF, Babachir David Lawal, who insisted that he and the companies cited were not given a fair hearing by the national assembly,” he said.

“President Buhari’s communication to Nigeria’s lawmakers was simply this: If the SGF was not given a fair hearing, can you now give him one?”

He added that the report in discussion, was an interim one and a final report was, therefore, being expected.

Shehu said it would not have been advisable to act on the matter before a final report was received from the legislature.

He said as fervent as Buhari is about the war on corruption, “he believes in due process and in fair hearing, without which our democracy cannot be taken seriously by Nigerians or the international community”.

Lawal’s compnay was accused of getting a suspicious N200 million grass clearing contract in Yobe state.