Despite his rejection by the Senate, the Acting EFCC Chairman has found favour with President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice.
A Premium Times report has shown that the presidency on Tuesday gave the clearest
indication yet that it would not succumb to the Senate and remove Ibrahim Magu as
chairman of the anti-graft EFCC.
The Senate recently refused to screen presidential nominees for the position of the resident electoral commissioners, saying
it would not do so until Mr. Magu is removed as Acting EFCC Chairman. The Senate had
twice rejected the president’s request to confirm Mr. Magu.
However, according to Premium Times, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo while speaking at
an interview with journalists and activists on Tuesday night, said Mr. Magu enjoys the confidence of he and the president.
“I’m fully in support of Magu as the EFCC Chairman just as the president is…” Mr Osinbajo said.
Speaking on the Senate rejection, the vice president said “it is up to the Senate to make their judgement. If our candidate is
rejected, …, we can represent our
candidate.”
The Senate, while rejecting Mr. Magu the second time had said it would no longer consider him if his name is sent again by the
president.
But Mr. Osinbajo gave the clearest indication yet that Mr. Magu may remain in acting capacity as EFCC Chairman for the duration
of the Buhari administration.
“I fully agree with Mr. (Femi) Falana that there was no need in the first place to have
presented Mr. Magu for confirmation,” he said making reference to the Section 171 of
the constitution.
The Vice President said although the EFCC Act requires that an EFCC chairman be confirmed by the Senate, part of Section 171
of the constitution, which is superior to the act, does not mandate such Senate confirmation.
The vice president also described the State Security Service’ action of writing a report against a presidential nominee (Mr. Magu) to the Senate as “a robust expression of our institutions of government.”
He said it shows that the administration does not interfere in the works of its security agencies, making reference to the
U.S. where the FBI wrote a report against the U.S. President Donald Trump.
“He (President Buhari) has not interfered with what the DSS want to say,” Mr. Osinbajo said.
Mr. Osinbajo said President Buhari merely studied the SSS (also called DSS) report and reviewed Mr. Magu’s response which he
found satisfactory.
“The president looked at what Magu said and what the DSS wrote and he said, ‘I am
satisfied with what Magu said.”
