The Senate has for the second time rejected the nomination of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after his screening at its plenary session of Wednesday, 15th March 2017.
During the screening, Mr. Magu delivered a concise presentation detailing his intended objectives if given the opportunity to serve as the Chairman. In his submissions, he stated that the Commission would focus on expanding its operations across the country and intensify its activities through high profile investigations. He further noted that upgrading the manpower capacity of staff and improving their welfare would also be a top priority.
Subsequent to his presentation, the Senate posed questions bordering on asset recovery, his negligence of court orders, allegations of abuse of human rights by the commission, as well as and allegations from the Department of State Security (DSS) indicting Mr. Magu for failing the integrity test and warning that he would be a liability to the Federal Government’s anti-corruption campaign. In particular, Sen. Dino Melaye (APC: Kogi) buttressed this view by quoting paragraph 14 of the DSS report submitted to the Senate ” In the light of the foregoing, MAGU has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption drive of the administration.” Sen. Biodun Olujimi (PDP: Ekiti) also accused the Acting Chairman for abusing his office and the powers accorded to him by arresting accused persons without any form of investigation.
In addition to the foregoing, Mr. Magu was unable to provide a satisfactory answer on how much the EFCC had recovered. He also claimed that he would avail the Senate of a letter appropriately addressing the DSS concerns on an undisclosed date. The DSS had in a letter written to the Clerk of the Senate on Tuesday, March 14th, 2017, reaffirmed its position on all allegations leveled against Mr. Magu in its security vetting report of October 3rd 2016 which was presented to the Senate at the time.
