By Babande Musa

As the nation awaits the outcome of the presidential enquiry into the allegations of corruption against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, by the Senate, Babande Musa, says given the performance of the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) under his watch, the Senate indictment is an unkind cut.

Day after day, it is becoming very obvious that the Senate Committee’s report, which purportedly indicted the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David Babachir, over so-called corruption, was cunningly but poorly crafted by ‘’political enemies’’ to deliberately open holes in the SGF’s character.

But, in doing the dirty job, the Shehu Sani-led Senate Committee took too lightly the worth of work done by the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) as overwhelming evidence has shown in the past few days.

Overpowering proof

Perhaps so! Just recently, the Senate was said to have been confronted with overpowering proof by members of the PINE, which revealed that the Senate Committee actually misled the apex law-making organ in its attempt to carry out the request of its master(s).

To be sure, the assertion by the Senate committee that PINE was a ‘’grass cutter, who actually did not cut any grass’’, has been demonstrated  to be wholly deceptive and absolutely erroneous as the Senate committee refused to take cognizance of the facts that PINE had delivered excellently on the huge responsibility given to it by the federal government.

David Babachir Lawal and Bukola Saraki

As a matter of fact, it is absolutely preposterous, illogical and nonsensical on the part of the Senator Sani-led committee to suggest that the powerful Presidential Initiative on North-East (PINE) under the watch of the SGF, is a mere ‘’grass cutter’’, especially when juxtaposed with the fact that Engr. Babachir is a well-intentioned precursor of the no-nonsense Lt. Gen Theophilus Danjuma-led Presidential Committee on North-east Initiative (NCNI).

Save from working from answers to questions, the Senate would have discovered sound findings on the real mandate and excellent works that have been executed by PINE within a very short time it functioned under Engr. Babachir.

At the beginning of its work, the then President Goodluck Jonathan administration embedded PINE in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) with most of the preliminary works and related expenditures done under the watch of the NSA.

But when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office, he reorganised it and placed it under SGF apparently for ease of coordination since many of the agencies working on the troubled North-east are government ministries and departments, which SGF directly supervises.

Mandate of PINE

As redesigned by President Buhari, the mandate of PINE was to mobilise resources to provide emergency assistance to people and communities displaced and unpleasantly affected by the Boko Haram terrorists; kick-start and stabilize the region’s economy; and strategically position the region for long-term prosperity.

While inaugurating the initiative that was mandated to coordinate all interventions in the region ravaged by the deadly terrorists, President Buhari had said that the worst of terrorism in the north east was over due to the gallant effort of the military. He had expressed confidence that the committee chaired by former Minister of Defence, Lt Gen Danjuma, would deliver on its mandate.

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