The Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, faulted the arrest of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, saying it was an after-thought.
He wondered why it took the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, almost a year to effect the arrest of Lawal after he had been found guilty of corrupt practices.
The governor said the arrest appeared to have been prompted by the criticism of Buhari by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who stated that Buhari was condoning corruption among his people while fighting others.
Writing on his twitter handle on Thursday, Dankwambo said: “Why did it take one year to arrest Lawal? Is it because former President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke up? It is too late to deceive Nigerians.
“You can’t be deceiving Nigerians on one hand that you want to fight corruption and next minute you are supporting it. It is too late.
“Nigeria needs more work than prayers. The essence of leadership is to work for the people not to urge them to be praying.”
Babachir Lawal was arrested on Wednesday by the EFCC over alleged involvement in financial scam.
The arrest came two days after Obasanjo criticized Buhari.
It would be recalled that the ad-hoc committee set up by the Senate on humanitarian crisis in the North East, announced his alleged involvement in a fraud.
The committee, on December 14, 2016, disclosed that he was involved in the award of a grass-cutting contract to his company for the clearing of “invasive plant species” in Yobe State, through the Presidential Initiative on Northeast (PINE).
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N570 million was said to have been spent to cut the grass.
Following the indictment, a committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to probe his case and that of Ambassador Ayo Oke of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, who was involved in another financial scam.
The Osinbajo panel found Babachir Lawal guilty and made recommendations to President Buhari.
In the execution of the recommendations by the panel, Buhari sacked Lawal.
His sack led to the appointment of Boss Mustapha as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Mustapha was the director general of the Nigeria inland Waterways.
