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| Magu |
The embattled acting Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, has been
unable to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari since the beginning of
the crisis that engulfed the confirmation of his appointment.
According to presidency sources, Magu who is said to be at loggerheads with some
members of Buhari’s kitchen cabinet, tried to see the President on
Saturday night, in the aftermath of the Senate’s refusal to confirm his appointment but his efforts were futile. efforts on Saturday to see President Buhari .
The Senate, on Thursday, had based its decision on a security report by
the Department of State Service which accused Magu of abuse of office
and corruption.
The report by the DSS says Magu’s
antecedents and his conduct after his appointment as the anti-corruption
czar, made him ineligible to hold the office in full capacity.
The DSS report concludes, “Magu has
failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to
the anti-corruption drive of the present administration.”
Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, handles the President’s appointments and determines, in most cases, who gets to see him.
There have been reports that Magu is
involved in a power struggle with the Director General of the DSS, Mr.
Lawal Daura, and some top aides of the President, who are said to be
against his confirmation. The acting EFCC chairman is said to be an ally
of the National Security Adviser, Gen. Babagana Monguno.
Magu was conspicuously absent at the
Saturday’s wedding of the President’s daughter, Zahra, to Ahmed Indimi.
However, other heads of security agencies including the former chairman
of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, were present at the lunch which held inside
the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.
Multiple sources in the presidency
confirmed to our correspondent on Saturday that Magu was sighted in the
Presidential Villa around 6.30pm on Friday.
While he failed to see the President,
Magu attended the Asset Recovery team meeting which holds weekly at the
Presidency. The meeting had Vice President Yemi Osinbajo ; the Attorney
General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami; the Minister of
Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, and others, in attendance.
Magu
has written a letter stating his side of the story over the allegations
levelled against him by the DSS. A source, who said the letter would be
delivered to the President during the week, added that Magu defended
himself and also detailed his running battles with some of the
president’s closest aides.
Magu, it was gathered, had wanted to
issue a statement through the agency to respond to the DSS allegations,
but later had a change of mind.
Meanwhile, this newspaper gathered that the confirmation crisis had polarised the President’s cabinet.
A source in government told one of our
correspondents that some ministers who are in support of Magu visited
the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the Senate
session on Thursday. The source said the ministers tried to prevail on
Saraki to ensure that Magu was confirmed. Saraki was said to have told
them that he did not have the sole power to confirm the EFCC’s acting
chairman.
Some ministers who are however staunchly
against Magu reportedly reached out to the senate president and urged
him not to make the mistake of ensuring Magu’s confirmation or it could
come back to haunt him.
He can only be reconsidered if DSS clears him — Senators
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Senate
Committee on Ethics Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Samuel
Anyanwu, has said that the senate may review its decision on the acting
chairman if he clears himself of the allegation contained in the
security report on him.
Anyanwu, who spoke on Saturday, said,
“The presidency has the right to present him for screening again if it
is satisfied that the allegations against him in the report are
baseless. The senate will do its constitutional duty by adequately
investigating petitions against any nominee so that a wrong person will
not be appointed.
“Mr. Magu should clear himself of the
allegations leveled against him otherwise senate will refuse to screen
him if Mr. President should forward his name again,” he said.
Asked if the senate would reconsider the
nomination of Magu if Buhari re-presented him, Senator, Sunday Ogbuoji
(Ebonyi South), said it was up to the executive.
He said, “The business of the
legislature is to screen and confirm nominees but before we do that, we
first of all do background checks and these background checks are
carried out by institutions authorised by our constitution which in this
case, is the Department of State Services.
“The DSS gave us a report upon which we
based our decision. If he (Ibrahim Magu) is re-presented, it means they
have sorted out their issues at the executive level and a report will so
say.”
The lawmaker representing Oyo South
Senatorial District, Senator Adesoji Akanbi, said the implication of the
rejection of Magu by the legislature was that he would cease to be the
acting chairman of the EFCC.
Akanbi said, “For how long is he going
to act? His name was nominated and had been rejected. And the reason for
the rejection is not biased; it was based on the information made
available to the Senate.”
“It is not over yet. The President can
re-present him. By then, he would have filed his defence and
communicated it to the senate. The President can re-present Magu to the
senate even as much as four times if he chooses to. But before he can do
that, the clog in the wheel of Magu’s nomination and legislative
approval must have been addressed.”
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media
and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, while speaking to our
correspondent on Saturday, said the upper chamber of the National
Assembly, being the lawmaking arm of the government, would not be
responsible for the interpretation of the law.
Abdullahi said, “By our democratic
arrangement and structure, whatever we do and whatever the executive
does are subject to interpretation by judiciary. If anybody is aggrieved
with it, we have done our own part and I can only comment on what we do
in our work and how we do it.”
Speaking on the same matter on Friday,
lawyer and human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, had called for
the replacement of the embattled acting chairman.
According to the lawyer, the issues
raised in the DSS report cannot be overlooked. The legal expert noted
that with the various allegations against the EFCC acting boss, it would
not be proper for him to continue to head the agency.
He said, “We cannot have such weighty
allegations of corrupt enrichment hanging over a man who is to
investigate and prosecute others.
“Prior to Mr. Magu’s appointment, a
serious allegation of corruption was made against his predecessor in
office, but we have never heard of any effort made by the EFCC since
Magu took over, on that case.”
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