Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has said it was the responsibility of the Office of the SGF to detect and flag issues surrounding the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).
The chieftain of the African Democratic Congress said an SGF should not ignore such matters, even if some influential figures within the Presidency attempt to sideline the office.
His comments come amid growing controversy over the alleged N1.3 billion PFIPC scandal. Nigerian Newssphere had reported that the Nigeria Police Force allegedly detained the father of the council’s director, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, as investigations into the purported “ghost agency” linked to the Presidency continue.
Adeyemi, who claimed to be the Director-General of the PFIPC, is currently standing trial at the Federal High Court on charges bordering on conspiracy, forgery and impersonation. The Federal Government has listed the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, alongside 10 others, as prosecution witnesses in the case.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News, Lawal maintained that the SGF’s office should have identified the alleged irregularity before it escalated.
“In my own time, all the 23 agencies that report directly to the SGF, when it’s time to defend their budget, I attended with the MDA that’s going to defend the budget,” he said.
“If that MDA is part of the presidency, that is, it reports to the president through the SGF, the SGF should be able to know, because before it gets to the National Assembly, that budget goes to the SGF in that regard.
“I can tell you, unless there’s a dereliction of duty by the SGF’s office, the responsibility to flag this fake agency would have come from the SGF. But if sometimes, maybe they feel so much sidelined that they don’t care, they just look the other way. But the responsibility to flag that fake agency comes from the SGF’s office. If that happens to me, I’ll go to the president. If you sideline me, I’ll go to the president and protest immediately.”
