There was a time when the suspended chairman of the Economic and
\nFinancial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, was a ‘Magun’ to
\nNigerian looters and scammers. That’s a thunderbolt. Then, at the
\nmention of his name, politicians who had looted our commonwealth and
\nstashed it in their coffers would be disturbed. He was tough and
\naudacious. That was the period looters did drop the billions of naira
\nthey had stolen in abandoned buildings. The fear of Magu!<\/p>\n
He and his boys, ‘Magu Boys’, were seen in almost all the parts of the
\ncountry, breaking looters’ coffers and recovering stolen funds. They
\nseized houses, expensive cars, and golds, corrupt politicians had bought
\nwith our commonwealth. Many Nigerians believed he was a Messiah, who had
\ncome to aid Mr. President in his fight against corruption which was one
\nof his campaign promises.<\/p>\n
I recall when the Saraki-led Senate didn’t want to assent his
\nappointment. Some of us raised our eyebrows and bashed the senate. We
\nbelieved they had a skeleton in their cupboards, so, they wanted to
\nfrustrate him so that he would sheathe his anti-corruption sword. Saraki
\nand his loyalists in the house, especially, were mainly seen as the
\norchestrators of his rejection. Meanwhile, they were others too, who
\nweren’t Saraki’s loyalists and didn’t want him. Some of them were even
\ngood friends of Mr. President.<\/p>\n
However, the recent allegations against him which led to his ouster
\npointed at some of the reasons why the 8th senate didn’t want to assent
\nhis appointment. Also, it showed that he is morally far from what he was
\npreaching. Aside from the fact that the office he held requires that its
\nholder should be tough and unforgiving to looters as he had exhibited,
\nit also requires transparency, which is even the most pertinent. You
\nmustn’t allow the recovered funds to change your direction and fault
\nyour anti-corruption war.<\/p>\n
Instead, he was alleged to have diverted billions of naira from the
\nrecovered funds to his account and sold out some of the seized property
\nto his cronies. These are just two of many of the allegations against
\nhim. The Ibrahim Magu we surmised was Messiah unknown to us was a Judas.
\nThe funds he showed us that he had recovered, he would still go ahead to
\nsiphon billions of it in his account. He didn’t spare some of the seized
\nitems too. How could a whole EFCC Boss be looting the looted funds he
\nrecovered. This isn’t how to be EFCC boss!<\/p>\n
Can we say his earlier ‘gra-gra’ was to distract us from probing his
\ncupboard? Thank God, those he had once afflicted with his imbalance
\nanti-corruption fight were parts of the forces that ousted him from
\noffice and stripped him off of the power he was not justly wielding.
\nWhat he exemplified in office was not how to be EFCC boss. Anyway, the
\nhunter has been hunted.<\/p>\n