President receives panel report from Osinbajo

President Muhammadu Buhari has received the Presidential Investigation Panel Report on corruption allegations against suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal and Director of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke at his home office.

On Wednesday, August 23, 2017, the president received panel members, led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who had been investigating the allegations for months.

President Buhari suspended Lawal on April 19 after months of mounting pressure for his sack arising from allegations of his complicity in the misappropriation of funds earmarked for the welfare of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) through the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE).

Oke was suspended as the director of the NIA after his public involvement in the controversial $50 million loot recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from an Ikoyi apartment in April.

He had laid claim to the funds, saying it was earmarked by the agency for covert operations.

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While addressing the press after the presentation, Osinbajo said the panel conducted a fair and thorough investigation of the allegations and asked for patience while the president reviews the report and makes a decision.

He said, "It is a fact-finding committee as you know and what our terms of reference were was to find out based on the facts available to us and based on the interviews of witnesses of what transpired in those cases of the report involving the SGF and the DG of NIA.

"We have now concluded that and we submitted a full report with recommendations to the president. We cannot, of course, give you any kind of details because the president has to look at the report, study it and then make his own decisions based on that report.

"This is a document which has just been submitted to the president. He is the one who will read the recommendations and the facts and then make a decision.

"If you want to know what is in the report you have to wait, you really have to wait."

The other members of the three-man panel are National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.