Senate President, Bukola Saraki and former Delta Governor James Ibori had
\nmasterminded the removal of Ibrahim Magu, the newly appointed chairman of
\nthe Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from the anti-graft
\nagency in 2008.<\/p>\n
Magu, then head of the EFCC\u2019s Governance Unit, had investigated Saraki as
\nGovernor of Kwara State, Ibori as Governor of Delta State and other top
\npoliticians during the administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo and Musa
\nYar\u2019Adua.<\/p>\n
Following damning outcome of his painstaking investigation of the
\npoliticians, Magu became a target and was suspended from the police and
\nthen arrested on trump-up allegation of keeping documents belonging to the
\nEFCC in his home, according to sources familiar with his activities in the
\nanti-graft agency.<\/p>\n
Prior to the May 29 2007, expiration of tenure (and therefore immunity) of
\nNigeria’s former governors, the EFCC pronounced that it would hunt down
\nand prosecute public officials the anti-graft agency deemed corrupt. By
\nmid-July, however, the EFCC had yet to swiftly and decisively prosecute
\nthese officials. Whether the lassitude was due to inefficiency, lack of
\nevidence, successful prior brokering of deals with the EFCC or
\nold-fashioned politics remains unclear, U.S States Department noted.<\/p>\n
A United States cable obtained by Wikileaks wrote:<\/p>\n
C) On August 4<\/span><\/span>, former EFCC Economic Governance Unit Head Ibrahim Magu was 5. (C) Comment. The confluence of events in the course of a few days, with Senate President, Bukola Saraki and former Delta Governor James Ibori had masterminded the removal of Ibrahim Magu, the newly appointed chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nreportedly arrested following searches of his Abuja and Lagos residences
\nwhich reportedly found EFCC case files and a computer with classified
\ninformation. Magu was redeployed from the EFCC to the Police force on July
\n4 (reftel) and was serving as Chief Superintendent at Ado, Ekiti State at
\nthe time of his arrest. Although press reports alleged the EFCC carried
\nout the arrest, EFCC Secretary Akomaye told Poloff on August 6<\/span><\/span> that the
\ninvestigation, search and arrest were all handled within the Police and
\nthat the EFCC (once again) could not comment on police matters. Meanwhile,
\nEFCC Chief of External Relations Mohammed Bamalli (strictly protect), a
\ntrusted Embassy contact within the EFCC, told Poloff he knows Magu well
\nand cannot believe that Magu, whom he termed a “skilled professional,”
\nwould keep files at home. Bamalli told Poloff he plans to meet Magu late
\non August 6<\/span><\/span> and will relay what he learns to Poloff. Post will report any
\ninformation from Bamalli septel.<\/p>\n
\nthe appointment of Ibori’s former Commissioner of Finance as Principal
\nSecretary to the President, the questioning of Ribadu, Ribadu’s demotion
\nand Magu’s arrest, does not bode well for the Administration’s commitment
\nto fighting corruption. The thread that runs through all of them is former
\nDelta Governor James Ibori, the target of major corruption and money
\nlaundering probes by the EFCC and British Metropolitan police. Ibori was
\nbelieved by many to be the driving force behind Ribadu’s removal from the
\nEFCC and Waziri’s appointment. Antony Goldman, independent energy
\nconsultant and former Economist Financial Intelligence Unit Africa
\nAnalyst, told Poloff a few weeks ago that, during a recent phone
\nconversation, a cheerful Ibori commented that “Ribadu will be in jail
\nbefore I ever will be.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"