Five months after his name was officially communicated to the Senate, the screening and confirmation of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has suffered serious delays. OLUGBENGA SOYELE, in this piece, examines the controversies, intrigues and suspicions trailing the nomination.
Vice-Pesident Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), while acting in the capacity of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was then away in the United Kingdom, sent the name of Ibrahim Magu, to the Senate for screening and confirmation as EFCC chairman, but the lawmakers have so far refused to do that.
In his letter to the Senate dated June 17, 2016, Osinbajo had also sought the lawmakers’ approval for the appointment of Nasule Moses, Lawan Maman, Garandaji Imam Naji and Adeleke Abebayo Rafiu as members of the board of the EFCC.
Osinbajo had cited the EFCC establishment Act of 2004, which makes the commission responsible among other things for the coordination and enforcement of all Economic and Financial Crime Laws and Enforcement functions conferred on any person or authority to back up his action.
He also cited, “Section 2 (1) of the Act, which provides that the Commission shall consists of a Chairman who shall: Be the chief executive and accounting officer of the commission; Be a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency not below the rank of assistant commissioner of police or equivalent and Possess not less than 15 years cognate experience.
“Apart from other ex-officio members of the commission provided for in section 2, The Act also provides for four eminent Nigerians with any cognate experience of the following that is finance, banking, law and accounting. Section 2 (3) further provides that chairman and members of his commission other than ex-officio members shall be appointed by the president and the appointment shall be subject to confirmation of the Senate.
“Section 3 of the Act provides that the chairman and members of the commission other than the ex-officio members shall hold office for a period of four years and maybe reappointed for further term of four years and no more. “In view of the following, I hereby draw your excellency’s attention to the vacancy that existed in the EFCC.
But since the letter seeking the confirmation of Magu, and others, which was received by the lawmakers on June 22, was read on the floor of the Senate on July 14, 2016 by the Senate President Bukola Saraki, the upper chamber of the National Assembly has failed to take any action on it.
By its rules and practice, the screening of the nominee should have been undertaken by the Senate Committee on Financial Crimes and Anti-corruption and a report forwarded to plenary for consideration before the nominee is confirmed or otherwise.
Many observers have attributed this development to the perceived poor relationship between the Senate and the Presidency and the undue influence of some powerful Nigerians, who were being investigated and prosecuted by the EFCC.
Some people also believed that Magu’s past performance as a pioneer member of staff of EFCC may be responsible for the delay. It is a public knowledge that he was head of the investigative team that investigated some ex-governors, including Senate President Bukola Saraki, who was a former governor of Kwara State.
There are 17 former governors currently in the Senate including Saraki (Kwara State), Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom State), Danjuma Goje (Gombe State), Theodore Orji (Abia State) and Joshua Dariye (Plateau State).
The Senate President is also facing a 13-count charge at the Code of Conduct Tribunal over alleged corruption and false declaration of assets while his wife, Toyin, is being questioned on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.
Some Nigerians including civil society groups have also repeatedly expressed concerns about the non-confirmation of Magu’s appointment five months after his name was submitted to the Senate, one of such groups is a coalition of seven Civil Society Groups in the country.
The group, in a communiqué, issued recently in Abuja, maintained that the delay by the Senate sends a wrong signal of deliberate attempt by the lawmakers to frustrate the anti-corruption fight or at best, exert political pressure on the EFCC and force it into some compromise with the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
The communiqué was signed by Debo Adeniran of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, Lanre Suraju of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, CSNAC, Adetokunbo Mumuni of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP. Others are David Ugolor of the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Okey Nwanguma of the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria, NOPRIN, Faith Nwadishi of Publish What You Pay, PWYP, Nigeria and Oluajo Babatunde of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy, CTA.
Also some lawyers who spoke with LEADERSHIP on the issue, condemned the unnecessary delay by the Senate considering the fact that Magu has been acting as the chairman of the EFCC since November 9, 2015, when President Muhammadu Buhari removed the erstwhile boss of the anti-graft agency, Ibrahim Lamorde.
Calling on the lawmakers to immediately perform their constitutional duty, the lawyers described the controversy, blackmail, intrigues and suspicions trailing the nomination as a big obstacle to the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
In his own reaction, a constitutional lawyer, Mr Jiti Ogunye, said, “I think that the Senate has no choice but to deal with the nomination one way or the other because that is what the law says. “They cannot continue to delay the confirmation without any explanation.
In his reaction to the development, a Lagos -based lawyer and former President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Mr Olasupo Ojo said the action of the Senators is deliberate and against the interest of the country.
According to him, “the delay is deliberate and I want to say that the Senators who have cases at the EFCC see this as an opportunity to hit back at Magu”.
Ojo said, “Magu has revived the fight against corruption in this country, he has shown courage and dedication to his duties, so the executive should not allow the dark forces to frustrate his efforts.
Another Lagos -based lawyer, Lekan Oyetunji, who spoke on the issue, also urged the Senators to tell Nigeria why they have not acted on Magu’s nomination.
Oyetunji also asked the lawmakers to stop holding on to the confirmation without any communication, because in his view, it is demoralising and it can make Magu to loose focus.
The lawyer further stated that he hoped that the delay is not political because a lot of the lawmakers have skeletons in their cupboards and Magu from what he has been doing is going to expose them.