The Senate on Thursday, rescheduled the screening and confirmation of the
Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr
Ibrahim Magu to Dec. 15.
The Deputy Leader of the Senate, Bala N’allah, made this known while
addressing newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
He said the postponement of the exercise from Dec. 8 to Dec. 15 became
necessary to allow for a full house to convene.
According to him, lawmakers who traveled out of Abuja for official
assignments requested the postponement pending their arrival to enable
them participate in the confirmation process.
“The Senate is normally guided by the time frame of the work. We agreed
that today will be the confirmation of the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim
Magu. “But we received a lot of calls from senators who are away, who want
to participate. “When we looked at the demand and the number we felt it
will be wrong for us to proceed, disregarding those calls.
“We decided to fix it for Tuesday but we were not sure if the President
will declare Tuesday as Public Holiday, so we agreed to fix it for
Thursday.
“We have since written an official letter to the acting chairman fixing
Thursday as the day for the confirmation hearing of his appointment,’’ he
said. On why Magu’s confirmation had lingered for more than five months,
N’allah said the senate had other matters of priority to attend to.
“Anybody who is familiar with the normal procedure of governance would
have known that there are certain procedures that need to be taken for
candidates to be confirmed. “Whatever we do is always subject to
interpretation but what is important is that a date has been fixed,” he
said.
Presidency had in July written the Senate seeking the screening and
confirmation of Magu as substantive chairman of the commission.
President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed Magu as acting chairman of the
EFCC after the removal of Ibrahim Lamorde on Nov. 9, 2015.
Before his appointment, Magu was the Head of Economic Governance Unit of
the commission. If confirmed, Magu will be the fourth head of the
anti-graft agency, after Nuhu Ribadu, Farida Waziri and Ibrahim Lamorde.