Senate summons SGF Babachir David Lawal over Comments

The Red Chamber of the National Assembly today summoned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir David Lawal, over comments he allegedly made on the constituency projects of the lawmakers.

In a recent interview with Daily Trust newspapers, Babachir Lawal was quoted as saying that Government might find it very difficult to implement the constituency projects to the letter because MDAs might not find constituency projects as critical to the execution of their mandate given dwindling resources.

His comments didn’t go down well with members of the Senate, who, during plenary on Tuesday asked him to clarify his stand following a motion sponsored by Senator Matthew Urhoghide (PDP, Edo South).

Senator Urhoghide was of the opinion that “for SGF Lawal to speak as such is worrisome and he has dashed the hopes of our people,” before adding that “it is an impeachable offence to circumvent the implementation of the 2016 budget.”

Similarly, Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP Ekiti South) berated the SGF on his supposedly unguarded utterances, saying that “the Nigerian senate and legislature deserves to be respected.”

This is the second time that SGF Lawal would be summoned by the Senate, following his invitation a fortnight ago over the list of Ambassadorial nominees.

Also asked to report to the Red Chamber are the Ministers of Finance and Budget Planning, Kemi Adeosun and Sen Udoma Udo Udoma respectively, who have been called upon to make clarifications over the Zonal Intervention Projects.

The summons are contained in the following tweets on the Senate’s official handle

Senate now moves that the SGF Babachir Lawal appear before the #EthicsPPPCttee, #FinanceCttee and #AppropriationCttee.

— Nigerian Senate (@NGRSenate) July 12, 2016

Senate also moves that the Finance & Budget Ministers appear before the #FinanceCttee and #AppropriationCttee.

— Nigerian Senate (@NGRSenate) July 12, 2016