BREAKING: Court dismisses, acquits Ex-SGF, Babachir Lawal in N544m grass-cutting contract controversy

Babachir Lawal, a former secretary to the government of the federation, has been cleared of the N544 million in contract fraud charges that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, had filed against him.

On Friday, the Court declared that the anti-graft agency had utterly failed to construct a case against the former SGF.

In a judgement on no case petition submitted by Babachir Lawal, Justice Charles Agbaza held that EFCC indicated that no elements of any offence were made out by the 11 witnesses that testified for the EFCC.

The EFCC brought charges against Babachir Lawal before Justice Charles Agbaza together with his younger brother, Hamidu Lawal; Suleiman Abubakar; Apeh Monday; and two businesses, Rholavision Engineering Limited and Josmon Technologies Limited.

They were charged with a 10-count fraud-related allegation involving the removal of evasive plant species worth N544 million, to which they entered a not-guilty plea.

On Monday, November 30, 2020, Babachir Lawal, the former secretary to the government of the federation, was re-arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Agbaza.

The charge against Engineer Babachir David Lawal stated, “That you, Engineer Babachir David Lawal, while being the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and a director of Rholavision Engineering Ltd on or about the 22nd August 2016 at Abuja, did knowingly hold indirectly a private interest in the contract awarded to Josmon Technological Ltd but executed by Rholavision Engineering Ltd for the removal of invasive Engineer Babachir David Lawal, committed an offence under Section 12 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Act, 2000, while serving as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and a PINE, according to one of the accusations.