Suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir David Lawal yesterday shunned Senate ad-hoc Committee probing alleged contract scandal at the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE). 

Lawal was billed to appear before the panel chaired by Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna) by 10.am yesterday but he was absent during the sitting that lasted about two hours. 

Yesterday’s invitation was the third the panel extended to the suspended SGF. He was to respond to queries on the involvement of a company in grass cutting contract scandal worth N200 million involving PINE.

Senator Sani said, “We thought that now that he is under suspension, he would have enough time to be here. We sent letters to his former office and his house, but the one for his house could not be delivered, the men at the gate turned back our messenger. Now we are here since 10am waiting for him and its now 12pm. It is clear to us that he is not appearing. 

“As far as we are concerned, we would certainly go ahead and present our report on the floor of the Senate based on the fact and figures, we have with us at our disposal. We believe that in the interest of fairness and justice, we should sacrifice time, but he is not here. We see this as deliberate choice to absent himself from this committee.” 

Daily Trust