Allegation over $300m Abacha Loot against Magu Baseless<\/p>\n
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has raised the alarm
\nover the recent allegation against the Acting Chairman of the EFCC,
\nIbrahim Magu by the United States, US Senate’s Chairman, Committee on
\nFinance, Charles E. Grassley on looted funds.<\/p>\n
The Commission reiterated that it is at the forefront of the transparent
\nmanagement of recovered funds and would not be dragged into any
\ncontroversy over an allegation that has no fact or any iota of proof.<\/p>\n
The 86-year-old US Republican Senator had in a letter dated April 1,
\n2020, and addressed to the Chief Money Laundering and Asset Recovery
\nSection of the US Department of Justice, Deborah Connor, wrongly and
\nmaliciously accused Magu of “detaining individuals who have spoken
\nagainst the Buhari government”.<\/p>\n
The allegation clearly has no bearing with the operations of the EFCC
\nnor address the painstaking efforts of Magu in tackling the menace of
\ncorruption, without fear or favour.<\/p>\n
The EFCC is involved in the processes of repatriation of the looted
\n$300million by the former Head of State, the late Gen Sani Abacha and
\nquite aware of the tripartite agreement involving Nigeria, the United
\nStates and Island of Jersey.<\/p>\n
As an anti-graft agency, the Commission has credible records of managing
\nrecovered funds and assets and it is rather unfortunate that the ranking
\nUS Senator,\u00a0 in a desperate bid to frustrate the repatriation of the
\nfunds, clearly embraced the well-worn antics of some unscrupulous
\nelements in the country, who never succeeded in\u00a0 blackmailing the
\nanti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
Even the harshest detractors of Mr. Magu know and always acknowledge his
\nfirm and bold handling of the anti- corruption fight which continues to
\nearn him accolades within and outside Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Only recently, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, gave an
\nAward of Excellence to Mr. Magu for his unique role in a joint field
\noperation codenamed, “Operation Rewired”.\u00a0 The operation yielded great
\nresults internationally in tackling the menace of cyber-crime.<\/p>\n
It is worrisome that a high-ranking US lawmaker of the status of
\nGrassley could not get his facts rightly nor establish a credible
\npremise of attacking an FBI- celebrated Magu.\u00a0 Would the FBI have come
\nout to acknowledge the effectiveness and credibility of the EFCC under
\nMagu’s watch, if such allegation of oppressing opposition to President
\nBuhari’s government had any merit?<\/p>\n
Besides, only recently, former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF)
\nand Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke (SAN), and an opposition PDP
\npolitician, poured encomiums on Magu on the visible achievements of the
\nEFCC under his watch. According to Adoke, “President Muhammadu Buhari is
\nhighly celebrated for fighting corruption and the poster boy of this
\ncelebrated achievement is clearly Magu”<\/p>\n
It would interest Sen Grassley to know that three former governors who
\nare ranking members of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, which
\nis President Buhari’s party, are currently serving jail terms for
\ncorruption.\u00a0 Is the EFCC also persecuting members of the President’s
\nparty?<\/p>\n
Grassley evidently lacks any sound basis for linking the EFCC and Magu
\nwith any oppressive or separatist agenda against government opposition.<\/p>\n
Records of convictions of the Commission are in the public domain as
\nwell as cases before the courts, which can be subjected to un-biased
\nanalysis and scrutiny.<\/p>\n
We wish to reiterate that the EFCC under Magu is too focused on the
\nanti- graft agenda of the government to be distracted by such empty
\nclaims of the lawmaker. Grassley and his sponsors are clearly on
\nquicksand on this issue.<\/p>\n
The Commission remains focused on its mandate against economic and
\nfinancial crimes and will not be deterred by spurious allegations from
\nindividuals with hidden agenda.<\/p>\n
Allegation over $300m Abacha Loot against Magu Baseless The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has raised the alarm over the recent allegation against the Acting Chairman of the EFCC,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n