The Senate
yesterday rejected the confirmation of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
Senate
spokesman, Abdullahi Sabi, who briefed newsmen on the matter, said Magu’s rejection
was based on a ‘worrisome’ security report, made available to lawmakers by the
Department of State Services (DSS).
Reacting,
presidential aide, Mr. Femi Adesina, said: “Senate has said it will formally
communicate its decision to the President. We await Senate’s decision.”
Three
prominent Nigerians, Prof. Itsay Sagay, Mr. Femi Falana and Chief Mike
Ozekhome, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) reacted to the development.
Senator Sabi
said: “The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to inform the
general public that based on security reports available to the lawmakers, we
could not proceed and confirm the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as the executive
chairman of EFCC.
“Accordingly,
the Senate hereby rejects the said nomination and has returned the said
nomination to Mr. President for further action. There is no confusion here. We
have said it is based on security reports.
“Please, all
public officers go for security screening and we are saying based on security
reports, we cannot proceed and confirm. We are rejecting it and returning it to
Mr. President for further actions. That is just the statement. It is as simple
as that. That is exactly what the Senate has said and I do not have any other
explanation more than this,” he said.
However, names
of other board members of EFCC have been forwarded to the Senate Committee on
Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes for further action.
Daily Sun
gathered that a status report from the DSS indicted Magu. It was learnt that
Magu worked round the clock prior to his rejection to block the Senate from
making the contents of the document public.
Lawmakers
declined to make any official or unofficial comments. According to them, they
were warned by the leadership of the Senate not to speak to newsmen on the
issue.
One of the
lawmakers who explained briefly, said the DSS report showed that Magu was
allegedly involved in the disposal of seized assets from convicted corrupt
public officials when the immediate-past chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde,
held sway.
The lawmaker
said the report questioned the integrity of Magu to lead President Buhari’s
anti-corruption war, judging by his alleged involvement in the disposal of
seized assets.
He said the
report indicated that the EFCC, under Magu’s watch, is involved in human rights
abuses.
Earlier, two
leading members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senators Ali
Ndume and Dino Melaye, were reportedly engaged in a war of words over the
confirmation of Magu.
The two
lawmakers disagreed sharply during a pre-sitting meeting held at the office of
the Senate President, Bukola Saraki. It was learnt that while Ndume gave a nod
to the confirmation of Magu, Melaye, however, kicked against it.
While some
Senators rooted for an open screening of Magu during the meeting, others were
opposed to it, saying the EFCC nominees should be referred to the Senate
Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes for screening.
Magu, worried that
his confirmation may hit the brickwalls allegedly pleaded with Senate Leader,
Ndume to intensify lobby of lawmakers whom he thought could sway the pendulum
in his favour.
Findings by
Daily Sun revealed that Ndume reportedly spearheaded the failed lobbying of
lawmakers, who were believed to have moved against Magu’s confirmation.
Ndume, reached
out to one of the ranking principal officers of the Senate on behalf of Magu in
a last minute attempt to mend fences with him.
President
Muhammadu Buhari appointed Magu after removing Lamorde on November 9, 2015. But
the Presidency in June this year, eight months after his appointment, wrote to
the Senate, seeking the screening and confirmation of Magu as chairman of EFCC.
The letter was read on the floor of the house in July, one week before
lawmakers embarked on their annual vacation.
Before his
appointment, Magu was the head of Economic Governance Unit of the EFCC. Magu,
if confirmed, will be the fourth head of the anti-graft agency, after Nuhu
Ribadu, Farida Waziri and Mr. Lamorde. Like others, all the heads of the EFCC
are from the North.
According to
Nigerian laws, a public official is not expected to act in office for more than
six months without confirmation of appointment. In the case of Magu, however,
President Buhari did not forward his name to the Senate for confirmation eight
months after he was appointed.
Meanwhile, the
EFCC headquarters in Abuja wore a gloomy look yesterday over Magu’s rejection.
Magu, a
foundation staff of the commission, was appointed Acting Chairman by President
Mohammed Buhari.
But as one of
the Abuja-based radio stations broke the news of the rejection activities took
a low side.
Some staff who
monitored the Senate session on local radio station through their handsets wore
furlong faces as soon as the news of his non-confirmation broke.
The designated
car park for the commission’s staff almost became empty as some staff left the
premises.
When
contacted, EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, did not pick his calls.
Magu’s
confirmation not rejected –Falana
Femi Falana,
the rights activists, said: “My attention has been drawn to the refusal of the
Senate to conduct confirmation hearing in respect of the nomination of Mr.
Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Since Mr. Magu was not allowed to justify his appointment before the plenary of
the Senate it is misleading to say that his nomination has been rejected by the
Senate.
“The
announcement credited to the Bukola Saraki-led senate is that Mr. Magu’s
confirmation could not be considered based on a security report. The purported
security report was not presented on the floor of the Senate. To that extent,
the refusal of the executive session of the Senate to circulate the report and
allow the Senate to take a decision is an insult on the integrity of the entire
Senate.
“Since
the said report was prepared by the management of the
Department of State Services (DSS) it is crystal clear that the refusal of the Senate
to consider the nomination of Mr. Magu is a confirmation that the forces of
corruption have decided to rubbish the anti corruption crusade of the Buhari
administration. The President owes the nation a duty to flush out all the
well-known corrupt elements in the government and their cronies without any
further delay.”
Magu ‘ll be
there, whether they like it or not – Sagay
Chairman of
the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, has said
Ibrahim Magu’s appointment will be renewed whether he is confirmed or not.
In a
wide-ranging interview published in the current edition of The Interview, Mr.
Sagay said, “whether they like it or not, he (Magu) will be there. His
chairmanship will keep on being renewed.
“Since Nuhu
Ribadu left, we have not had a man with such sterling qualities as Ibrahim Magu
and whether they like it or not, Magu will be there until he completes his term
under the law.”
“The EFCC
chairman has a four-year tenure. From the EFCC Act, non-confirmation does not
impair his duties,” he said.
EFCC Act
doesn’t recognise Acting Chair
–Ozekhome
Constitutional
lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Ozekhome (SAN), said: “Firstly, Magu’s
rejection by a Senate that has a preponderance of Senators from ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) government is a loud statement about the skewed,
unfair and brazenly hypocritical manner that the so-called corruption war has
been fought by his government. Secondly, that he could be rejected by the
Senate after pendency of his confirmation before the Senate for over six months shows a strait-jacketed and
non-communicative ruling party that can neither diplomatically win the confidence of its members, nor
capable of reining or rail-roading them in to buy into its programmes and
agenda.
“The EFCC Act
only recognises a Chairman as provided for in Section 2(1)(a) of the EFCC Act,
who shall be the Chief Executive of the agency. It does not recognise an acting
Chairman, which is a mere conventional stop-gap remedy for a full fledged
Chairman.An aggrieved party in a matter can challenge his acting capacity when
the chips are down and when a shove becomes a push.
“All the
government can do now is to keep him in this acting position, hoping to get him
confirmed in the future after better spade work and more engagement of relevant
stakeholders. That he must be confirmed by the Senate before his actions can be
deemed valid is an inescapable constitutional and statutory imperative under
section 2(3) of the EFCC Act which makes such a confirmation compulsory. The
section provides that the chairman and the members of the commission other than
ex-official members shall be appointed by the President and the appointment
shall be subject to the confirmation of the Senate.”
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