THE Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, has said he will not appear before the Senate panel today, citing a subsisting court case on the matter.

A Senate ad-hoc panel had summoned the SGF over alleged fraud in the award of contract by the defunct Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE).

But the SGF said in a letter addressed to the chairman of the panel, Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna) yesterday that he would not be able to appear before the committee because he had gone to court to challenge the invitation.

Babachir came under allegations that PINE, which is under his office, used the sum of N270 million in clearing grasses in some communities in the North East as part of the programmes under the initiative.

PINE was also alleged to have spent the sum of N188m for Nigerian refugees living in Minawao, Republic of Cameroon.

His personal company was alleged to have been the ultimate beneficiary of the contract through a proxy.

The Senate in October last year constituted the ad-hoc committee to conduct a public hearing to ascertain how much was released to PINE and how it utilized the funds.

The committee was also mandated to investigate allegations of diversion of grains and other food items from the Strategic Grain Reserves, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other sources for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Although the panel held a 3-day public hearing between December 6 and 8, 2016, some of the invited stakeholders, including the SGF, did not attend the session.

The committee’s report indicted the SGF as a result of which the Senate resolved that he should resign and face prosecution for alleged fraud.

The Senate also said it would provide evidence against the SGF to President Muhammadu Buhari in order to sack him.

But the SGF said he was not invited by the ad-hoc committee during the investigation and accused the Senate of not giving him fair hearing.

Following the indictment, President Buhari ordered the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, to investigate the allegations.

The Attoney General’s investigation cleared the SGF and the president in a letter dated January 24 communicated the outcome to the Senate.

Consequently, the ad-hoc panel re-invited Lawal in a letter dated March 15, to appear before it today as part of efforts to give him fair hearing on the matter, a request the SGF turned down yesterday.

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