Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari, did not clear Babachir Lawal, the Secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), in his letter to the Senate concerning the report of its investigation against him.
Shehu, while speaking on ‘Ra’ayi Riga’, a BBC Hausa audience participation programme, on Friday, said the President only requested that Lawal should get a fair hearing in response to the Senate’s report which accused Lawal’s compnay of getting a suspicious N200 million grass clearing contract in Yobe state.
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?
“The report in discussion, was an interim one and a final report was, therefore, being expected. It would not have been advisable to act on the matter before a final report was received from the legislature.
“As fervent as President 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.”
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