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Thursday, March 28, 2024

#SoundOff: The Irony Of A Corrupt Anti-Graft Boss Appointed By An ‘Anti-Corruption’ President

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[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n November 2015, Ibrahim Magu was appointed as the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He wasted no time hounding President Muhammadu Buhari’s political opponents, enemies and critics. Buhari was clearly pleased by Magu’s kangaroo performance to the extent that later in 2016 he appointed Ibrahim Magu as the substantive EFCC Chairman.

There was hitch, however, with this arrangement; he had to be confirmed by the Senate. The Senate refused to confirm Magu as EFCC Chairman and cited Magu’s corruption as the reason. Undaunted, President Muhammadu Buhari re-appointed Ibrahim Magu who had proven himself as a stooge and sent subsequently his appointment to the Senate for confirmation on the 23rd of January, 2017. Buhari went as far as saying he had cleared Magu of the corruption charges against him. There is no section of the Nigerian constitution that says that the president can wave his hand and clear public officials of corruption.

The Senate took another look at his appointment, and said “No”. They once again refused to confirm Magu. This time, they cited “security reasons” as the reason for refusing to confirm him.

It also turns out that they had asked the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to submit a report. On the 14th of March, 2017, the DSS submitted a report on Ibrahim Magu to the Senate. In the report, they brought up some issues of corruption and paragraph 14 stated “In the forgoing, Magu has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti graft agency. Talk about irony!

That Mr. Buhari would reappoint a person whom the Senate had refused to confirm on security and corruption grounds is very revealing. It means Buhari is more invested in having Ibrahim Magu run the anti-graft agency so that he can continue the crusade against Buhari’s critics and political enemies, than having the anti-graft agency run by a competent and independent professional.

It’s ironic that the head of the anti-graft agency should be accused of corruption by the Senate and DSS and still hang on to the role shamelessly.

Edikan Uko is a political activist, business strategist, and human capital management professional. She sits on the Editorial Board of The Trent. She tweets from @EdikanUko

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

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