By Jerry emmanson
A Human right group, the Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has raised an alarm over what it described as a plot to blackmail the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir David Lawal.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Executive Secretary of the group, Comrade Ikpa Isaac said recent reports accusing the SGF of monetizing his office for personal gain is a desperate ploy to undermine the anti corruption war of president Muhammad Buhari.
He said “The desperation to create doubts about President Buhari’s commitment to tackle corruption was such that they accused the SGF of allowing the activities of government to nosedive.
Unable to pin anything on him, they came up with the allegation of job racketeering, which they claimed was operated on his behalf by a syndicate.”
He said the group is concerned because the strategy of those behind this plot is that they will attempt to create mistrust, division and infighting within the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The expectation is that with confusion sown in the government several outcomes to derail the anti-corruption crusade would be achieved: President Buhari would be distracted from focusing on stamping out corruption; the President would be misled or pressured into dropping those that are actually performing in the government
“After being wrongly accused of corruption, the exit of those that are performing in the government would virtually cripple the cabinet or slow it down; with the vacancy created by wrongly sacking key members of the cabinet, the proxies of pro-corruption persons would be appointed as replacements; the replacements will then engage in acts that will undermine the integrity of the government and compromise the anti-corruption fight.
“Even when President Buhari is discerning not to fire his strong hands, the sustained allegation of corruption against cabinet members is aimed at placing question mark on his government.”
He said other campaign to descredit the President Buhari’s anti-corruption war include recent claiming that a member of the President’s cabinet and serving minister used stolen funds to make Mr President’s election possible.
He said the campaign has now found a new target in the person of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engineer Babachir David Lawal, who they are accusing of monetizing his office for personal gain.
According to him “As with all other stories with sinister motives, all that was offered was ‘sources’ that have never been named in any of the several publications that have made such far reaching allegations.
Knowing the importance of the Office of SGF in the effective running of the country, we are worried about the impact that distractions like these allegations will constitute at a time when the country should be exploring multiple options for moving forward.”
He said it has uncovered a plot to mobilize staff under various guises to contrive protests that will destabilize the operations of the SGF’s office so that the protests can be further used to justify the claims that Engineer Babachir David Lawal is corrupt.
He urged Nigerians to ignore the minute population of the very few and disgruntled elements seeking Engineer Lawal’s head for doing his job and serving the people with his best.
