Acting President Yemi Osinbajo says nobody can remove Ibrahim Magu, acting
chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
He said this in Kaduna on Thursday while commissioning a zonal office of
the EFCC.
Represented by Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, the acting president
described Magu as a “nightmare for corrupt people”.
“We have confidence in Magu to fight corruption to a standstill. He will
remain the EFCC chairman as long as I remain the acting president and as
long as Muhammadu Buhari remains the president,” he said.
“For those thinking that corruption is beginning to win this war, Magu
will remain their nightmare for the next two years or six years as the
case may be.”
Making personal remarks, el-Rufai said over N500 million had been
recovered from corrupt officials of the past government and some
contractors in Kaduna.
He added that those officials would be handed over to the EFCC for
prosecution.
El-Rufai said because of the zero tolerance his administration has for
corruption, the anti-graft agency EFCC encouraged him to establish a zonal
office in Kaduna.
The governor promised to allocate a piece of land to the commission for
construction of its training school and staff quarters.
There is a brewing crisis between the legislature and executive over
Magu’s position.
On Tuesday, the upper legislative chamber resolved to suspend the
confirmation of nominees sent by the executive over Osinbajo’s support for
Magu.
Ahmad Yerima, senator representing Zamfara west, had moved a motion to
stop the confirmation of Lanre Gbajabiamila as the director-general of
Nigeria Lottery Commission.
He wondered why Osinbajo would send a nominee to the senate after he said
the upper legislative chamber did not have the power of confirmation.
Yerima was making reference to a statement made by Osinbajo when he spoke
with select media organisations, including TheCable, in April.
Osinbajo had expressed support for the view of Femi Falana, human rights
lawyer, that the executive did not need to send the name of Magu to the
senate for confirmation.
“There is an argument, whether or not we need to present him (Magu) for
confirmation and that’s a compelling argument from Femi Falana,” Osinbajo
had said.
“His (Falana) argument is that under the constitution, section 171, and if
you look at that section, it talks about the appointments that the
president can make. They include appointments of ministers, ambassadors
and heads of agencies such as the EFCC. In that same section 171, the
constitution rightly said that certain appointments must go to the senate
such as ministerial and ambassadorial appointments. Those of heads of
agencies like the EFCC do not have to go to the senate. That’s what the
constitution says. But the EFCC act, which of course as you know is
inferior, says that EFCC chairman should go to the senate for
confirmation.
“I am sure that even a pocket book lawyer knows that when a legislation
conflicts with constitution, it’s the constitution that prevails. I agree
with Mr Falana that there was no need in the first place to have sent
Magu’s name to the senate.”
The senate rejected Magu on two different occasions.