Buhari Considers Sack, Prosecution Of Ibrahim Magu (Details Here)

Barring last minute reprieve, Ibrahim Magu, acting Chair­man, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), may not only be on his way out of office, but also may be looking towards days of accounting for alleged infrac­tions preferred against him by Abubakar Malami, the Attor­ney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice on Saturday .

Impeccable presidency sources said on Friday that President Muhammadu Bu­hari had given Malami approv­al to investigate and prosecute Magu following his memo­randum, where he itemised 22 weighty allegations against the EFCC chairman, who has occupied the office for nearly five years in acting capacity.

The sources said the EFCC chairman will temporarily hand over the anti-graft agency to the next most senior person, Mohammed Umar Abba, Direc­tor of Operations of the agency.

Malami had also included a short list of three candidates for consideration to replace Magu. Our sources said FCT Commis­sioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, may ultimately replace him, be­ing the most favoured among the three names Malami sub­mitted to the president.

One of the sources said the president wanted the panel to investigate the authenticity of the property and proxy alle­gations against Magu, noting that “because of the weight of the allegations, and the kind of person managing the EFCC, the president wouldn’t want to take any decision in a hurry. So he made sure a crack team is assembled to look into the matter holistically.”

According to him, Ayo Sala­mi, former President of Court of Appeal, is heading the panel with the offices of National Se­curity Adviser (NSA); Director General, Department of State Services (DSS); Director Gen­eral, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Police, and Attorney General of the Fed­eration as members.

According to the source, the panel has two weeks to submit its report to the president, but had already done a week.

Malami, had in his mem­orandum to the president, made allegations bordering on financial malfeasances in failure to declare actual mon­ey recovered from looters. He also accused Magu of gross in­subordination, refusing direc­tives from the commission’s supervisory ministry; and as a result, the Federal Govern­ment has come under severe attack and embarrassment on account of odium stemming from poorly pursued investiga­tions. The AGF’s memo made strong innuendos purporting that Magu has made himself a willing tool in the hands of politicians thereby reducing the sterling reputation EFCC once enjoyed.

Sources at the presidency insisted on Friday that Buhari has indeed signed off on the memo only awaiting imple­mentation.

“By the recommendation, Magu should be eased out of office, and prosecuted on the strength of the allegations made against him,” explained a presidency source to the newspaper, who said the presi­dent was livid after reading the memo.