Nigerians never give accused people benefit of the doubt - Former SGF Babachir Lawal accused of mismanaging N200m

macfranc007 July 07, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 Adeola Opeyemi

- Former SGF Babachi Lawal said he was glad the EFCC is now investigating his fraud allegation

- Lawal is standing trial for mismanaging N200million funds provided for IDPs in northeast

- The former SGF claimed that being accused of mismanaging the fund doesn't mean he is guilty

The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, said he is dissapointed in the fact that Nigerians often believe that people accused of fraud are guilty of the allegation without proper investigation.

The former SGF, who is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly mismanaging the sum of N200million meant for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in northeast, said he is glad the allegations against him are being investigated.

Lawal, who was sacked and replaed with Boss Mustapha, made this statement during an interview with Hindi Livinus, The Punch reports.

He said: "Now, Nigerians seem to have the mindset that every time you come under investigations, it implies that you are guilty. Nigerians never give (people) the benefit of the doubt that investigations could in fact exonerate the accused person rather than find him guilty."

When asked if he thinks he is getting preferential treatment from the EFCC because of his close relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari, he disagreed.

He said: "So, what is the preferential treatment there? Whatever basis they have to investigate me; the allegations were forwarded to it (EFCC) and it was instructed to investigate me. Obviously, they (EFCC operatives) will need to do a thorough job, which could come out either way. They could say he’s guilty, prosecute him or he’s not guilty, we’ll not prosecute him. Or they could say we have sufficient evidence that when we take him to court, we will be able to prove that he’s guilty or say we don’t have sufficient evidence to take him to court. It could go either way, so the conclusion that the EFCC must find me guilty is erroneous. It is mischievous, in fact."

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Recall that NAIJ.com previously reported that the EFCC detained former secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal.

Lawal was detained on Wednesday, January 24. Lawal reported at the EFCC office in the morning before he was detained by the anti-graft commission.

Samin Amaddin who is the spokesperson of the EFCC confirmed the arrest.

Buhari is the General Overseer of corruption on NAIJ.com TV