It has been reported that if Yemi Osinbajo-led panel probing the allegations of financial impropriety against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal, indicts him, either the former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, or former Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, may be considered as successors of the SGF.

According to This Day report, both men are said to be on a shortlist that is currently before President Muhammadu Buhari, as the Osinbajo panel kicks off the investigation into the management of funds meant for humanitarian assistance in the North-east.

Lawal and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke, were sent home by Buhari last week over their respective involvement in the alleged mismanagement of the funds allocated to the Presidential Initiative on the North-east (PINE) and the discovery of N13.3 billion in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, penultimate week.

However, before the panel concludes its findings and submits its reports, it was learnt that a shortlist was already being considered for Lawal’s replacement in the event of his indictment.

Speaking on the development, a reliable presidency source said: “The general belief is that Babachir Lawal may not survive the findings of the probe panel, so a shortlist has been drawn up.

“Two names featured prominently on the list. They are Adams Oshiomhole and Olorunnimbe Mamora.”

The source recalled that Buhari had on the expiration of the tenure of Oshiomhole in November last year, told the former labour leader that he deserved a federal appointment, having in his estimation done well as a two-term governor of Edo State.

Although no one knew what the president actually had in mind when he made the remark, it was later believed that Oshiomhole might have been pencilled down as a possible replacement for the incumbent National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), since the office had been zoned to the South-south, the source volunteered.

But with the suspension of Lawal and inability of the APC to hold its national convention due to financial constraints, the presidency source said Oshiomhole has been listed as one of the candidates being considered as SGF.

On the other hand, This Day reported that some officials in both the cabinet and presidency are pushing for Mamora for the job.

Mamora was recently dropped as a non-career ambassadorial nominee.

Those pushing for Mamora,  were said to have held the position that the former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly and two-term senator, was the most marginalised among those who worked assiduously for Buhari’s victory at the 2015 polls.

A reliable source told newsmen  that the wife of the president, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, is one of those who have been unhappy that Mamora, who was the Deputy Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation during the electioneering, has been left out in the cold since Buhari assumed office almost two years ago.

It was also learnt that some government officials favourably disposed to Mamora had met with Buhari before he travelled for his medical vacation on January 19 and strongly made a case for the former senator.