What sins has Magu committed along the line of his national assignment? What has he done that Nuhu Ribadu or Farida Waziri did not do? What the whole nation is seeing playing out is the fact that corruption, because it is deeply entrenched in Nigeria is desperately fighting back. As we all know the nation’s National Assembly is mostly populated by characters that have had their fair share of the so called national cake. The point being made here is that many senators sitting in the hallowed chambers are former governors, serial senators, former this and that, that have allegedly soiled their hands in the bowl of corruption. Apart from this fact, the senators have their cronies, business ventures and those covering their dirty tracks; some of whom Ibrahim Magu is currently investigating, or prosecuting in the law courts.
Pebbles, with Igbotako Nowinta
The Nigerian Senate is not known for the overdose presentation of its official position on any issue bordering on its statutory or constitutional responsibility
The Senate has a normal way of handling its activities as duly stipulated by the law of the land.
But, the way this legislative arm of government has handled the matter of the present Acting Chairman of the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu Mustafa, is an indication that a chunk of the present crop of Senators in the National Assembly are not comfortable with him being confirmed as the substantive Chairman of the nation’s anti-graft agency.
When President Muhammadu Buhari sent the name of Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for normal procedural screening and expected speedy confirmation within the Senate, it did not take long before feelers started coming out that because it has to do with Magu, the routine of ‘bow and go’ will not be followed.
And the way the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria tossed Magu’s screening exercise from one committee to the other before he was finally given the boot recently shows that the lawmakers are not on the same page with President Muhammadu Buhari in the regime’s stance against corruption.
The alleged security report conducted by the Department of State Service (DSS) which the Senate has relied upon heavily in throwing Ibrahim Magu’s confirmation exercise via the next available window should be scrutinized by relevant independent federal bodies, in the name of transparency, fairness and equity.
How many screening exercises involving presidential nominees to the National Assembly have attracted a certified security report from the Department of State Services before such personalities were given the nod by the Senators?
Even, when the former Governor of Rivers State, now Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi battled neck to neck with some elements within the hallowed chambers before he managed to scale through, nobody brought up any DSS report in an attempt to scuttle his chances.
No one is saying that Ibrahim Magu has been too fantastic as Acting Chairman of the EFCC since he took the mantle of leadership from Ibrahim Lamorde weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as the number one citizen of Nigeria.
But, give or take, corruption must be fought anyway, with or without Ibrahim Magu, whether the Senate like the face of whoever is leading the EFCC presently or not.
Since ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo surprisingly woke up from deep administrative slumber to put machinery in motion to establish the EFCC during his second time in office in 2003, with Nuhu Ribadu as the organization’s first Chairman, no successive EFCC chairman has undergone what Ibrahim Magu is facing today.
Even ex-police woman, Farida Waziri did not face torrential obstacle within the Senate before she was confirmed as substantive EFCC boss.
What sins has Magu committed along the line of his national assignment? What has he done that Nuhu Ribadu or Farida Waziri did not do? What the whole nation is seeing playing out is the fact that corruption, because it is deeply entrenched in Nigeria is desperately fighting back.
As we all know the nation’s National Assembly is mostly populated by characters that have had their fair share of the so called national cake. The point being made here is that many senators sitting in the hallowed chambers are former governors, serial senators, former this and that, that have allegedly soiled their hands in the bowl of corruption.
Apart from this fact, the senators have their cronies, business ventures and those covering their dirty tracks; some of whom Ibrahim Magu is currently investigating, or prosecuting in the law courts.
Given the stark fact that corruption is perhaps the biggest form of cancer devouring the very existence of Nigeria, any one like Ibrahin Magu calling the shots at the EFCC must be seen as an instant or public enemy number one by corrupt public officers.
That is saying unambiguously that by virtue of his enormous sensitive responsibility on the national scale, Ibrahim Magu is expected to have few friends if any at all.
Because the nation is undergoing one of the worse economic recessions in its chequered history, occasioned by decades of reckless wanton murderous corruption, the Buhari administration is taking unprecedented and unparalleled measures to get the nation back on track.
And Ibrahim Magu seems to have the right attitudes and dancing steps that fit into the music currently being played about fighting corruption from the Aso Rock Presidential Palace, Abuja, Nigeria!
This is true because Magu was a member of the Special Investigative Panel set up by the current National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno to probe the procurement of Arms between 2007 and 2015.
Now that Magu has been rejected by the Senate, will the presidency sulk or lobby the senators to reconsider its earlier position? Or will Magu continue to act while his replacement is being shopped for?
It is interesting to note that in rejecting Magu, the Senate did not even give him the benefit of defending himself concerning the said security report allegedly not in his favor
By dumping Ibrahim Magu, the implication is that the Senate has passed a vote of no confidence on the current efforts being put in place by President Buhari to confront corruption.
A peep at some of the details of the DSS report that reportedly nailed Magu revealed a lot of what one can tag ‘witch-hunting administrative queries,’ which Magu had had time to respond to in the past and got scot free.
Truly, the Senate is afraid of Magu and some very powerful blocks in Nigeria allegedly teleguided the recent action of the Upper Legislative body against the acting chairman of the nation’s anti-graft agency.
The ball is now left in the hands of President Muhammadu Buhari to push back Magu’s name to the Senators or shop for another guy that can do this job uncompromisingly. With or without Ibrahim Magu corruption must be fought with all seriousness it deserves in this clime.
Nowinta wrote: Where We Are – A Call for Democratic Revolution in Nigeria
