- As Uncertainty prevails over fate of embattled SGF, NIA boss
Those speculating on President Muhammadu Buhari’s health must pull the brakes, All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu cautioned yesterday.
The former Lagos State governor warned that such speculators were out not only to derail the President but to decisively pit a section of the country against another for selfish gains.
According to Tinubu, the President, who Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for on March 28, 2015, because they believed in his capacity to fix the country, is on a mission – to right many of the nation’s wrongs.
He said the prevailing economic challenges were not of Buhari’s making, adding that the effect of the tumbling oil prices at the international market would not have been so biting had the immediate past administration saved for the rainy day.
Tinubu, however, said the Buhari administration has been battling to avoid the pitfall of the past by diversifying the economy from oil.
In the meantime, there was uncertainty on Sunday evening over the fate of the suspended Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayo Oke; and the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.
The development is based on the fact that the presidential committee investigating them can no longer present its report to President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday (today) as earlier planned.
The President on Sunday evening travelled to London for medical consultation.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is the chairman of the panel that has the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN); and the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, as members.
Efforts by our correspondent to ascertain whether Osinbajo had submitted the report to Buhari before he left the country did not yield any positive result.
Before his medical trip was announced, a top government official had told our correspondent that it was not clear whether Buhari would take a decision on the report immediately or would hold on to take second opinion on it. .
“What we know is that the President will receive the report tomorrow (Monday). He will decide what to do with it.
“He can look at it and announce his final decision on the persons involved immediately or he may decide to take his time and probably seek second opinion on the report,” the source said.
“What is however clear is that since the officials are already on suspension, there is the need for their fate to be decided as soon as possible whether they will be reinstated or they will be shown the way out, depending on the recommendation of the panel,” the top government official had told our correspondent on the condition of anonymity on Sunday.
The panel investigated allegations of violations of law and due process made against Lawal in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East while it probed Oke on the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, for which NIA is laying claim.
Nation with additional report from Punch
