By Bashir Mohammed Kano

Executive Director, Centre For Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Dr. Yunusa Zakari Yau, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to treat all pending cases of sharp corrupt practices without prejudice adding that  the Secretary to the Federal Government, Mr. Babachir Lawal, was not a scapegoat in the fight against corruption.
Speaking at a press conference in Kano yesterday, Yau said there were three issues about the secretary to the federal government “first of which was cutting grassing in the face of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons starving to death for lack of food in their possession.”

Yau said the Babachir saga was no less different from the case of the former National Security Advisor who diverted money meant for buying arms to fight the Boko Haram militias, stressing that the Babachir issue was enough for a regime of probity and commitment to show him the way out.
He said the magnitude of the money allegedly diverted by the secretary to the federal government in the name of addressing the needs of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) was a classic case of inflating figures, stressing that the money could have saved the lives of many IDPs wallowing in misery, hunger and deprivation.

He said: “On the strength of these arguments, we had expected the President to have asked Babachir to step down and wait until investigations have cleared him of any wrongdoing.
“Failure to do this has sent a very strong signal that the President anti-corruption fight is politically motivated and not anchored on the spirit of national interest. This would be sad for someone who has made a name as a man of integrity, committed to fighting corruption wherever.”

On the humanitarian crisis rocking the Internally Displaced Persons, the CITAD boss said several credible reports had surfaced in the last couple of weeks detailing the ranging calamitous starvation the IDPs were facing and dying for, pointing out that the country was ill-prepared to handle the disaster.
He called on the President to suspend Mr. Babachir Lawal from office to enable to face thorough investigation, stressing that “by effecting such a decision, the nation can be assured that he truly belongs to all and not to some people and was committed to combating corruption wherever and by whoever.”

http://www.blueprint.ng/babachir-not-scapegoat-in-anti-graft-fight-citad/

By Mustapha Usman, Kano

The Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, pending the completion of investigation on the allegations of corruption against him.

The SGF came under fire for allegedly awarding contract to his own company, RholaVision Engineering LTD, to clear ‘invasive plant species’.

Addressing journalists at the CITAD’s office in Kano on Monday, the Executive Secretary of CITAD, Yunusa Ya’u, alleged that the funds believed to have been diverted by the SGF were meant for the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.

According to Mr Ya’u, the ‘grass-cutting’ contract was awarded by the SGF at the expense of the IDPs who were dying on daily basis due to starvation.

He labelled the contract as a misplacement of priority and a clear case of misappropriation of funds.