The case of using corruption to fight corruption is playing out under
President Mohammadu Buhari’s presidency with the combined forces of his
Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal and the Attorney-General and
Minister of Justice (AGF), Abubakar Shehu Malami, deploying all the
weapons at their arsenal to halt the confirmation of the Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.
Magu, is presiding over the affairs of the commission in acting capacity.
Pointblanknews had exclusively reported that Kyari had warned Magu to
drop some of his high profile cases that are detrimental to vested
interests of the presidency or risk loosing his job.
He had specifically asked him at a meeting involving security chiefs to
seek clearance from the presidency before embarking on some cases as such
cases may embarrass the President.
But following a recent raid of the Lagos and Abuja offices of some
beneficiaries of crude oil swap deals under the former President Goodluck
Jonathan’s administration, the trio have viewed Magu’s insistence on
proceeding with such cases as capable of undermining the image of an
administration perceived in some quarters as a bulwark against corruption
but equally seen by critics as a government living a lie.
Lots of oil firms both indigenous and foreign are believed to have
amassed billions of dollars from the crude oil swap deals and had funneled
millions of dollars into Buhari’s presidential campaign war chest.
Pointblanknews.com checks showed that the trio of Kyari, Lawal and Malami
have pressured the Senate leadership to halt the confirmation of Magu as
EFCC chair. Magu’s obvious “insistence and stubbornness” to press ahead
with such cases is not only a threat to the presidency but a looming
danger to the personal interests of the top tacticians of government.
It was further gathered that Magu’s probe of Oil companies is hurting
Kyari’s vested interests; his investigative forays into the bribery
scandal involving the SGF as they concern bribe payments made by some APC
stalwarts to him to influence their appointments to federal boards and
parastatals is another area that is discomforting to Babachir David Lawal.
“The chairman is looking into many, unfolding secret deals involving the
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in connection to his recent
dealings with Mobile Telecommunication Company, MTN regarding part-payment
of N50 billion of the N5.5 trillion fine imposed by the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC).
“The EFCC chair is also looking at secret financial dealings between the
AGF and Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, over the crisis involving the
Kogi State House of Assembly”, a dependable source told
Pointblanknews.com.