The Presidency has said that President Muhammadu Buhari will not interfere in the ongoing probes being carried out by the National Assembly.
It said the Senate’s probes of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, and the power sector from 1999 to 2015, were purely legislative matters and that the President could not stop them.
The Senate Committee on Business and Ethics is currently probing an allegation of diversion of N1tn proceeds of corruption recovered by the EFCC.
The Chief Executive Officer of Panic Alert Security Systems, Mr. George Uboh, had, in a petition submitted to the committee, accused Lamorde of diverting the money.
Also, the Senate Ad-hoc committee on power is investigating expenditures in the power sector under former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
When asked if Buhari had confidence in the probes of Lamorde and the former presidents, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the President could not interfere with the probes because of his respect for the principle separation of powers.
Adesina, who spoke with newsmen, said, “There is separation of powers and the Senate has the power to conduct probes. Thus, the Presidency does not need to endorse or oppose any probe being carried out by the legislature. It is within their power to do so.”
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Power, Mr. Goodknows Igali, had on Monday told the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Power that the government had spent a total of N2.7tn on the power sector from 1999 to date.
He said that power generation had risen from 3,500 megawatts in 1999 to 4,600 megawatts presently.
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