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Tag: Shehu Sani

  • Senate adopts report on grass cutting scam

    … To submit recommendations to presidency

    The Senate on Wednesday considered and adopted the damning recommendations of its ad-hoc committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East.

    The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Shehu Sani, had submitted the final report of the committee for consideration on Tuesday.

    The upper chamber did not only consider and adopt wholesale the recommendations, it also approved the votes and proceeding of Tuesday’s meeting to pave the way for eventual submission of the recommendations to the Presidency.

    The report was signed by seven out of eight members of the committee.

    It was learnt that the Senate rushed the consideration and adoption of the committee’s report which heavily indicted the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal.

    The lawmakers, after adopting the final report on the alleged contravention of the Procurement Act, 2007 and breach of Oaths of Office by Lawal in the handling of projects and contracts awarded by the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE), resolved to convey the resolutions to the Presidency for further consideration and implementation.

    The Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan, moved for brief adjournment to “allow the secretariat to prepare votes and proceedings of Wednesday’s plenary.

    The Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, promptly seconded the motion.

  • Senate panel insists on prosecution of suspended SGF

    Senate panel insists on prosecution of suspended SGF

    The Senate ad-hoc committee investigating the Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the Northeast on Tuesday recommended the prosecution of the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, for alleged infraction and contravention of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

    The Committee also said Lawal breached the Oaths of Office as SGF and should therefore be prosecuted by relevant authorities.

    The recommendation was submitted to the Senate by the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Senator Shehu Sani.

    The committee said, “We are of the opinion that Engr. Babachir David Lawal has contravened the provision of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (As amended); the Public Procurement Act 2007 and breach the Oaths of Office as Secretary to the Government of the Federation and therefore should be prosecuted by the relevant authorities.”

    The committee also recommended further investigation by relevant agencies of government on why contract benefitting companies paid over N500 million naira into Rholavision Engineering Limited, a company in which Lawal has interest.”

    It added: “The banks’ transactions of Rholavision Engineering Limited and the confirmation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) of Engr. Babachir David Lawal is still the signatory to Rholavision Engineering Limited accounts and 13 other accounts, some with different names; the committee is of the opinion that Engr. Babachir David Lawal has contravened the provision of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (As amended); the Public Procurement Act 2007 and breach the Oaths of Office as Secretary to the Government of the Federation and therefore should be prosecuted by the relevant authorities.”

    The committee recommended that all resources that have been misapplied or stolen by public officials should be retrieved and anybody found culpable of contravening any of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and the Federal Government Financial Rules and Regulations pertaining to the award of these contracts should be duly prosecuted by relevant authorities.

    “Relevant agencies should ensure that contracts partially executed but fully paid for must be completed by the concerned contractors, or asked to refund the equivalent money of outstanding jobs to the government treasury,” it stated.

  • Suspended SGF shuns Senate panel

    Suspended SGF shuns Senate panel

    The Suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, failed to appear before the Senate panel probing the alleged mismanagement of funds meant for the care of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East, on Thursday.

    The upper chamber convened the hearing to probe the alleged misappropriation of funds allocated to IDPs in the North East.

    The Senator Shehu Sani led ad-hoc committee submitted its interim report on the matter in December last year.

    The report heavily indicted Lawal for allegedly contravening the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and the Federal Government Financial Rules and Regulations on the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on North-East (PINE).

    Lawal, who has been suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari  following his indictment by the  Senate ad-hoc committee, is also being investigated by a presidential panel over his role in the award of contracts by PINE.

    When the Senate committee submitted its report, Lawal claimed that he was not given a fair hearing.

    The committee invited him to shed more light on the allegation leveled against him.

    Sani, who briefed journalists after about two hours of waiting for Lawal, said members of the panel waited in vain to hear from the suspended SGF.

    He expressed disappointment that Lawal failed to appear before the panel despite being invited.

    The Kaduna Central lawmaker said the committee would compile its report and submit same to the Senate next week.

  • Sani is bitter, frustrated – Sagay

    Sani is bitter, frustrated – Sagay

    The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay (SAN), on Thursday said Senator Shehu Sani’s call for dissolution of PACAC was borne out of “bitterness” and “frustration.”

    He said the call was due to the Presidency’s refusal to remove the acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.

    The Senate refused to confirm Magu on two occasions, following which the Presidency, with PACAC’s support, backed the Acting EFCC chairman to remain in office.

    Sagay said it was the Senators’ failed bid to truncate the anti-corruption war by removing Magu that has saddened the likes of Sani.

    The eminent professor of law denied ever defending the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal who was indicted by a committee headed by Sani.

    Sagay said: “I’m not surprised at Senator Sani’s effusions because they (Senators) are very, very frustrated by the manner in which we have insisted that Ibrahim Magu continue to head the EFCC.

    “They had hoped that they would be able to run down the struggle against corruption and make it totally ineffective by removing Magu. We stood against it. We have succeeded, so they are angry.

    “His response is one of bitterness that we have stood in the way of their attempt to run down the anti-corruption struggle.

    “It is his frustration that he is expressing in that manner, so I’m not at all surprised.”

    Sagay said it was not true that he defended Lawal.

    “I never did. That is a blatant lie. I never defended Lawal.

    “He (Senator Sani) should stop limiting his whole commitment to democracy on his little job as a sub-committee man that investigated Lawal.

    “He had a life before then and he’s going to have a life after that. He should not limit all his existence on that little report that he wrote. That is over now.

    “We’ve gone beyond that and he has to move on,” the PACAC chairman concluded.

  • Sani seeks dissolution of Sagay-led PACAC for incompetence

    Sani seeks dissolution of Sagay-led PACAC for incompetence

    The Chairman of Senate Adhoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East, Senator Shehu Sani, on Thursday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to dissolve the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).

    Sani, who spoke to journalists in Abuja following the suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr. Babachir David Lawal, said President Buhari did not need a forum of advisers on corruption to effectively fight corruption.

    The Kaduna Central lawmaker noted that the suspension of Lawal is a clear indication that PACAC, which once defended the suspended SGF, is not competent to work in its capacity.

    Sani said, “President Muhammadu Buhari should as a matter of urgency dissolve his Presidential Advisory Council on Corruption. It is a moribund and irrelevant assemblage.

    “A Presidential Advisory Committee headed by a man who defended the SGF is without honour.

    “Professor Itse Sagay attacked me for my report on Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE); now that the President has taken steps in the direction of the committee report, I hope the Prof. will muster the courage to also attack the President.

    “The advisory committee was looking for corruption in Sokoto while it is there in shokoto.

    “It is sad that most of the mercenary forces hired to rubbish the integrity of the Senate committee and defend those indicted have suddenly lost their voice.’’

    Sani, who is also Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, described as reprehensible “the fact that the humanitarian situation in the North East was made an industry where government officials and even NGOs profit from the suffering and the hardships of millions of victims.’’

    He lamented that while some people saw the millions of orphans and widows produced by the North East crisis as victims, others saw them as cash cows.

     

  • How Babachir Lawal got into trouble

    How Babachir Lawal got into trouble

    AT its sitting on October 4, 2016, the Senate debated a motion on the “mounting humanitarian crisis in the Northeast” after which an ad-hoc committee was constituted to investigate the matter. The committee was asked to conduct a public hearing to ascertain how much has been released to the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).

    It was also to ascertain how the funds had been utilised from inception as well as to investigate alleged diversion of grains and other food items from the Strategic Grain Reserves,  National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other sources for the IDPs.

    The committee held a three-day public hearing between December 6 and 8, 2016. Some invited stakeholders, including Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) Babachir Lawal, failed to attend the investigative hearing. The committee released what it called interim report, indicting the SGF who said he was not given fair hearing. It recommended the SGF’s sack on account of awarding contracts to a firm, Rollervision Engineering Limited, in which he had interest.

    A firm allegedly linked to Lawal  was said to have been awarded over N230 million contract to clear “invasive plant specie” in Yobe State.

    The committee found that as of the time the contract was awarded last March, Lawal was still Rheolavision’s director and that he only resigned in September.

    According to the Senate, Lawal’s directorship of the firm while being a public official contravened the Code of Conduct for public officials as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

    The lawmakers found that the company was incorporated in 1990 to carry out ICT services; but it received the  contract to clear grass in 2016 even while the owner is a senior government official.

    Hours after the Senate indicted him and called on authorities to punish him, Lawal accompanied President Buhari to the National Assembly to present the 2017 budget proposal.

    After the presentation, Lawal told journalists that the Senate was only victimising him and trying to “rubbish” his personality.

    “The Senate is talking balderdash; it has developed the habit of bring-him-down syndrome. I have the report of the Senate committee in which it was said that I didn’t resign from Rholavision Nigeria Limited. Let me tell you, Rheolavision was formed by me in December 1990, and it has been a company that was run very successfully.

    “Now, when I was appointed SGF, I resigned from that company on 18th August 2015. I can see that in their report, they are talking about 2016. I don’t know where they got their facts.

    “By the way, it is very instructive that when the committee was sitting, no effort was ever made to invite me to come and make submission.

    “It is therefore, surprising that they devoted a whole session at maligning me, claiming what is not true without even giving me the chance to come and put my own case before them.”

    When the Senate resumed in January, Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) brought up the matter, saying Lawal breached his privilege and that of his colleagues.

    The Senate insisted on its committee’s findings and senators took turns to lambast Lawal.

    “The President should review how somebody like Babachir Lawal managed to get into this government,” said Chukwuka Utazi (PDP-Enugu).

    Sani said many companies awarded contracts by the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) cannot be located.

    Sani told reporters in Abuja that over 20 companies were involved in the phony contracts.

    The Kaduna Central lawmaker, who described the development as “strange”, said that the inability of his committee to trace the addresses of the firm further reinforced their desire to interact with Lawal as the head of PINE.

    Sani said: “Meanwhile, you should understand that we are not investigating the SGF alone. We are investigating contracts that were awarded under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) and over 20 companies were involved.

    “But something very strange is the fact that some of these companies in these contracts we couldn’t actually trace their addresses.

    “We went there but we couldn’t find them. So the option before us is that it is easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for us to find some of these names here.”

    He added: “One of the persons we invited happens to be the SGF and his invitation followed the events that came after the interim report was tendered before the Senate and that was in his own claim that he was not given a fair hearing.

    “He sent a second letter asking for another opportunity to appear before us and he sent a letter to the committee through the leadership of the Senate and that letter overrides any other rumors you may have heard before.

    “Like all other persons, I read it on the pages of the newspapers that he went to court but we have never been served any letter on any legal action as far as we are concerned .“Before then, we also received a letter from the MD of Rolavision who said he was bereaved but the official letter is the one we received from the SGF which he signed himself and he graciously told us that he needs a new date based on the fact that the date that was set for today was not convenient to him. So that was the reason, I tendered the letter in plenary.

    “We need to be meticulous because reputations and lives of people are concerned and it is on that background that on the final phase of the report, we have to do a thorough job.”

    Lawal insisted that it was unfair to him for the committee to have submitted interim report without hearing from him.

    President Muhammadu Buhari took sides with him in a January letter to the Senate in which he asked the chamber to take a second look at its recommendations on the issue.

    The President faulted the recommendations of Senate and declined to remove the SFG as was recommended.

    The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) in a statement noted that “in order to give them (stakeholders) a fair hearing, the committee has resolved to conduct another public hearing.”

    The presidential letter on Babachir reads: “Dear Distinguished Senate President, Re-resolution by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria concerning the humanitarian situation in the northeast region particularly in relation to the alleged role of the secretary to the government of the federation, Engr. David Babachir David Lawal in the contract implementation regime of the presidential initiative for the northeast (pine).

    “You may recall your letter with reference NASS /8X/R/01/5 dated 15th December, 2016 in respect of the Senate consideration of the report of its ad-hoc committee on the mounting humanitarian crisis in the northeast that conveyed the resolution of the committee as contained in paragraph 1 subsection 8 therein which reads as follows. Engr. Babachir Lawal having contravenes the provisions of part one of the 5th schedule of the 1999 constitution as amended had breached his oath of office and should resign and be prosecuted by the relevant authority, S/075/02/01/16.

    “Following a receipt of your letter, I setup a review team to consider the recommendations from the senate committee. I have also conducted further investigation based on Engr Lawal’s response to the allegations and issues raised in the Senate resolution.  I have come to the following conclusion that I believe will guide the senate in the proper review of its interim report and eventual resolution.

    “The report forwarded to the presidency by the senate which informed the decision that Engr Babachir Lawal should resign and be prosecuted by the relevant authority S/075/02/016 was an interim report as against a final report which ought to have be presented to the senate in the plenary for adoption as a binding and final report before submission to the presidency given the weight of allegations made in the report.

    “The Senate committee setup to investigate the mounting humanitarian crisis in the northeast comprised of nine members namely,  Senator Oluremi Tinubu,  Senator Mohammed Hassan, Senator Solomon Adeola, Senator Ben Murray Bruce,  Senator Tayo Alasoadura,  Senator Theodore Orji,  Senator Yahaya A. Abdullahi, Senator Mallam Aliu Wakili and Senator Issac M Alfa.

    “The review of the interim report shows that the interim report was only signed by  three out of the 9 members namely Senator Solomon Adeola,  Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, and Senator Isaac M. Alfa

    “The signing of the interim report by three out of 9 members of the committee makes it a minority report of the Senate committee and not a committee report being an interim report. Thus, presenting a challenge for the presidency to determine the weight to attach to the report as currently presented.

    “I have also observed that the Senate ad-hoc interim committee report and the votes and proceedings of the Senate have not in its own right established that Engr Babachir Lawal was ever given an opportunity to appear before the committee and defend himself.

    “It is also on record that the company linked to him Rollervision Engineering Limited was also not invited at anytime before the committee to defend himself against the allegations which eventually formed the fulcrum of the Senate’s case against the company.

    “You are invited to note that non application of principles of fair hearing by the senate ad-hoc committee is a clear contravention of section 36 (1) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and against all principles of rule of law as initiated in the “Nigerian legal system as well as the roles of the National Assembly committees on handling of public petitions.

    “Consequently, I am of the view that baring other consideration that may arise as a result of subsequent investigation of Engr Lawal by the interim ad-hoc committee. The current report as presented to the Presidency in its own right does not meet the principles of fair hearing and compliance with the Senate rules for conduct of investigations in matters relating to abuse of office by public officers.

    “In replying on the foregoing I am not able to approve the recommendation to remove and prosecute Engr Lawal on the basis of the Senate ad-hoc committee report dated 15th December, 2016.”

    The president’s letetr angered Sani, who accused the presidency of fighting corruption with deodorant once members of the executive are involved and using insecticide when it concerned the National Assembly.

    The SGF later headed to court and said he would not appear before the committee. But the SGF wrote another letter dated March 22 requesting the committee to give him a new date to appear.

    Lawal, in the first letter, told Sani to inform other members of the committee that he would not be able to honour the invitation because he was in court to challenge his invitation to appear before the committee.

    The Lawal’s letter obtained by our reporter reads: “Dear Distinguished Senator Shehu Sani,

    “Your letter of invitation to appear before the above committee refers.

    “I wish to kindly request that you draw the attention of the other members of the committee that I will not be able to appear before the committee primarily because I have gone to court to challenge the invitation among others.

    “Please find attached the court documents.

    Please accept my highest regards.

    “Engr, Babachir David Lawal.”

    However, in a another letter read on the floor of the Senate, Lawal begged the committee to assign a new date for him to appear.

    He said rescheduling the hearing became necessary primarily because of a pressing engagement of government which clashed with the date and time earlier fixed of the hearing.

    The letter reads: “I wish to kindly request that you draw the attention of the other members of the Committee that l will not be able to appear before the Committee primarily because of a pressing engagement of Government which clashed with the date and time of the hearing. I kindly request a rescheduling of the hearing, please.”

    After reading the letter, Sani said his committee decided to give Lawal and others another date to appear.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki asked the committee to go ahead and give Lawal a new date to appear before it.

    Of course, Lawal never appeared before the committee and it is not clear what made the president change his mind and decide to probe his SGF for awarding contracts worth multiples of millions to a firm he had interest in.

  • 2019: APC may loose Kaduna if……– Shehu Sani

    2019: APC may loose Kaduna if……– Shehu Sani

    Sen. Shehu Sani (APC Kaduna Central) says the All Progressives Congress [APC] may loose Kaduna State in the 2019 governorship election, if the state government’s “seeming anti people’s policies”continue.

    Sani spoke to newsmen in Kaduna on Tuesday shortly after he received a complaint from traders on Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai’s plan to demolish the famous Kasuwan Barci Market in Kaduna.

    “The anti APC policies of the administration in Kaduna state is sending people away, many people now only have faith in Buhari not in the party any more.

    “Most programmes of government in the state are not in favour of the people and if it continues, APC will pay for it.

    “The current administration’s policies are only designed to please some certain group of people in the state,“ Sani claimed.

    He urged the state government to shelve plan to demolish the market, famous for its textile and second hand clothing.

    The Senator noted that demolishing such market with 4,800 shops at this time of hardship would spell doom for thousands of families.

    “I identify with the pains, concerns and fears of the traders and I appeal to the governor to think twice with a human heart over the issue.

    “We promised to deliver change to the country and as democrats, whatever we will do, we need to consult and carry the people along.

    “We cannot treat people with arrogance and insolence and expect them to trust us again,“ Sani said.

    According to him, the traders are angry and fear that if the market is demolished, it will be difficult for them to regain their shops back.

    Sani, who is the Senate Committee Chairman on Domestic and Foreign Debts, advised El-Rufai to suspend the demolition plan and concentrate on completing projects he had started.

    “For the entire project he started, he has not completed any. So, the mistake will be when he demolishes the market and there is no funds to reconstruct it, what will happen to the traders and the place?“

    He noted that most government activities would shut down by 2018 when political activities begin ahead of the 2019 general election.

    “The market had provided jobs for more than 30,000 men and women, with many youth off the street and engaged in tailoring, craft work and trading.

    “Engage the traders in reconstructing the market by giving them a specific design to reconstruct with a deadline,“ he suggested.

    Sani told the traders that he would forward a memo to the governor on the issue and advised them to also seek dialogue with the state government to resolve the matter.

    He also advised them to approach the state House of Assembly, religious leaders and human right organisations for intervention.

    The Senator added that the traders also have the option of taking legal action if all efforts failed to stop the government plan.

    The Chairman of the market traders union, Haruna Umar told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the market with 4,800 shops records over N500 million daily turnover.

    Umar said there were more than 30,000 persons earning their livelihood from the market and demolishing it would be devastating to them and their families

     

  • SGF declines Senate’s invitation, goes to court

    SGF declines Senate’s invitation, goes to court

    The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David- Lawal, on Wednesday informed the Senate that he will not appear before the committee probing his alleged involvement in the diversion of funds for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East.

    The SGF was invited by the Senate ad-hoc Committee investigating the Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East to appear before it on Thursday.

    At its sitting on October 4, 2016, the Senate debated a motion “Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East,” and a committee was constituted to investigate the matter.

    The committee was asked to conduct a public hearing on the matter in order to ascertain how much has been released to the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).

    It was also to ascertain how the funds have been utilized from inception as well as to investigate the alleged diversion of grains and other food items from the strategic grain reserves, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other sources of support for the IDPs.

    The committee held a three- day public hearing between December 6 and 8 last year.

    Some invited stakeholders reportedly refused to attend the hearing.

    The SGF, who was specifically indicted by the committee in its interim report, claimed that he was not given a fair hearing on the matter.

    Lawal was alleged to have misapplied billions of naira meant for the care of displaced persons in the North East.

    The report also said Lawal compromised his position by allegedly awarding contracts to a company he had interest in.

    Due to the perceived lack of fair hearing, the Senate mandated the ad-hoc committee to re-invite those involved in the matter.

    The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Shehu Sani, in a statement said “in order to give them (stakeholders) a fair hearing, the committee has resolved to conduct another public hearing on the matter.”

    Senator Sani’s letter to the SGF to appear before the committee was dated March 15.

    But Lawal in a letter titled: “Letter of invitation” and addressed to Senator Sani told the lawmaker that he would not appear before the committee because he had gone to court to challenge his invitation.

    The Lawal’s letter obtained by our reporter read in part, “Dear Distinguished Senator Shehu Sani,

    “Your letter of invitation to appear before the above committee refers.

    “I wish to kindly request that you draw the attention of other members of the committee that I will not be able to appear before the committee primarily because I have gone to court to challenge the invitation among others.

    “Please find attached the court documents.

    Please accept my highest regards.

    “Engr, Babachir David Lawal.”

     

     

  • Leaked memo: El-Rufai is disloyal, disrespectful – Sen. Sani

    Leaked memo: El-Rufai is disloyal, disrespectful – Sen. Sani

    Sen. Shehu Sani (Kaduna-APC) has urged the party to penalise Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State for allegedly leaking to reporters a memo he wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Sani, who is the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, called for the punitive measures in a statement he released in Abuja on Saturday in reaction to the alleged leakage.

    It will be recalled that media reports had alleged that El-Rufai told Buhari in a memo, that he was losing the vision and the momentum with which APC started the change campaign.

    The governor was alleged to have called on the President to communicate constantly with Nigerians, so they would know the plans of his government.

    The reports also claimed that El-Rufai acknowledged that a cabal was working hard to alienate the President from those, who even worked hard to secure his victory during the 2015 election.

    Sani said it was ironic that while El-Rufai could not stand constructive criticism, he had the audacity to criticise the President.

    “The governor always recommends that our party should punish me for criticising him.

    “Now that he has fired a cruise missile at the President through a deliberately leaked memo, he should also be treated the same way.

    “He accused me of being disloyal and disrespectful to the President and the party for speaking my mind.

    “Now he has done his own cunningly by criticising the President and the party, disguised it as a memo and leaked it out to the press.

    “If our able party chair would give me five strokes of the cane for speaking out, the governor (El Rufai) should be given thrice that for ‘leaking out’.

    “It’s often said that look at the message and not the messenger, but there are times when you can only decipher the message by looking at the messenger,’’ he said.

    According to Sani, while Gov. El-Rufai is entitled to his opinion and perception, the contradiction and irony is that he carried out an action he always stood against when criticised.

    He described the governor as disloyal and disrespectful, saying: “the difference is that while mine is blunt, his is dubious.

    “Secondly, for all the issues he raised against the President, his own is worst in his space of governance both in the existence of cabal or politics of exclusion, incompetence or public perception.

    “The difference is that the President is tolerant of criticisms and alternative views.’’

    He said the leakage of the memo to newsmen was an evidence that ‘‘logically he is leaking memo to rouse popular sympathy and create the image of ‘a competent alternative’ to ‘Baba.’

    “The memo suggests he is trying to do what he recently accused me of.

    “He said that I am in the habit of criticising him because I want to become Kaduna State Governor,’’ Sani said.

    He advised President Buhari to be cautious, saying: “he who keeps a scorpion in his pocket must always watch his groin and he who inherits a cobra should know that it’s not a pet.’’ (NAN)

  • Shehu Sani tells APC: nobody can stop our investigation

    Shehu Sani tells APC: nobody can stop our investigation

    Chairman of Senate Adhoc Committee on Humanitarian Crisis in the North East Senator Shehu Sani said yesterday nobody could stop his committee from completing its investigation of misappropriation of funds budgeted for internally displaced persons in the region.
    Sani, who held a two hours’ meeting with leadership of All progressives Congress (APC), told reporters at the party national secretariat the final report of his committee would be ready when the senate resumes’ from break.
    The party leaders told senators they were not comfortable with members of the party washing their dirty linens in public.
    He said the leadership of the party assured him they were not opposed to the investigations, but they did not like his choice of words on the floor of the Senate.
    He added that his use of “deodorant and sectional” was a clear definition of the bipolar nature of the anti- corruption crusade, adding that “I believe that there is the need for Nigerians to wake up to these realities.”
    Sani, who said the party was in support of the investigation said the leadership also told him that what it was against is party members washing their dirty linens in public.
    He said: “First, it is good to make clarification. The party did not write to invite me here for a meeting contrary to reports. But with my presence here, we have discussed a number of issues. The first is the need for unity in the APC caucus and the need for us to refocus ourselves. Since the two groups, the Like Minds and the Unity Forum have fussed together.
    “The second is what transpired after the interim report which I submitted on the floor of the senate. First, I wanted clarification from them whether the party is opposed to the looting of the funds of the Presidential Initiative on the humanitarian crisis in the north east.
    “They said the party is not opposed to it.”

    If the party is opposed to my interim report and they said no and so, I ask what their issues were. They told me that they are worried and concerned each time I fire some grammar in t the senate and it shock and rattles them while destroying the solidarity within the party and they want me to slow down on some of these Cruz missiles. I told them that it is either my honour or that of the letter that was sent by the Presidency.
    “I did not in any way attack the President, but I faulted the letter based on three issues. First, my name was omitted in the letter as Chairman of the Senate adhoc committee. Secondly, the SGF said we didn’t invite him, but we did invite him and thirdly, the letter said there was no quorum.
    “I told them that in as much as my comment in deodorant and insecticide was rattling they should have invited the SGF for call the senate and our report balderdash and they said they were also opposed that language used.
    “They said they don’t want us to wash our dirty linings in the public and I told the, that at the end of the day, even if you wash your dirty linings inside the room, you will still have to dry the, outside.
    “I made clarifications that they are not opposed to corruption investigations, but they are worried by the missiles I used which is causing a lot of discomfort. I told them I was only using literary expression to send my message.
    “I made it clear to them that we are going to do our own report and continue to do it. I am glad that they are not opposed to our investigation and they are also not opposed to the continuation of our investigation.
    “I am an activist and my statement is my statement and it is very clear. I think we owe our loyalty to three things. These are our conscience, our conviction and to our country and any other thing can come secondary.
    “What we should also know is that if you love a person, you tell him the truth and I believe if we as a government and as a party cannot tell ourselves the truth, then we have lost the moral right and authority to tell others the truth.
    “We are investigation the massive misappropriation of funds for IDPs in the north east. Nobody can stop that. We are determined to do our work and have done an interim report and we are going to come out with the full detail after this break and nobody in the party has said he is opposed to it. But I think that their major concern was my grammar.”
    On the resolution of the senate asking doe the sacking of the SGF, he said: “Sacking the SGF is not about Shehu Sani, but about the resolution of the senate and what they said is binding on me. If the senate say he should go, I share in that position and if they say he should remain, I share in that position too.
    “I didn’t ask to be named chairman of the adhoc committee and did not even know I was going to be in the committee. I was appointed and I have to do my job as it is and once I am done, I am out of it.”