Headlines
Attorney-General Malami tells Buhari to sack EFCC boss, Magu
…Accuse him of re-looting looted funds
BY NICHOLAS ABE
The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, may have his head delivered on a platter shortly going by information filtering out of Aso Rock.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, is said to have recommended to President Muhammadu Buhari the sacking of Magu.
Malami, according to Thisday, in a memorandum to the president, anchored his recommendation on several grounds, “ranging from diversion of recovered loot to insubordination and misconduct” by Magu.
The Attorney-General was said to have included a shortlist of three candidates for consideration to replace Magu.
But Magu is said to be fighting back and his supporters within the Presidency say removing him at this time when “he has given muscle to Buhari’s anti-corruption fight” would be a mistake.
“It is painful that the EFCC boss is facing certain powerful forces who have decided to remove him in spite of his remarkable achievements,” one of the sources stated.
But another source said given the weight of Malami’s allegations against Magu, the president may be inclined “to set up a probe panel that will look into the veracity of the allegations and make necessary recommendations.”
One of the sources said: “I can authoritatively tell you that though Magu has survived previous plots to remove him, the AGF’s legal opinion remains the deadliest plot to get Magu out of the EFCC as AGF’s letter to the president contained 22 weighty allegations that require Buhari’s decision on whether or not to send Magu’s name to the Senate for confirmation or replace him. This is because the office of the AGF is the supervising ministry of the EFCC and so his legal opinion cannot be treated with levity.
“For example, Malami alleged accounting gaps or discrepancies of figures concerning the recovered assets, claiming that Magu was not transparent enough in the management of recovered assets…”
READ: N150 bn stolen Abia money: EFCC seizes ex-gov T. A. Orji, Speaker Chinedum’s passports
A Magu supporter said: “It will interest you to note that Malami accused the EFCC boss of disclosing a total naira recovery of N504 billion but lodged N543 billion in the Recovery Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Incidentally, this exceeded the disclosed figures by N39 billion.”
According to the supporter of the EFCC boss, what should be a point of commendation is now being used against Magu.
Another source said: “Malami also accused Magu of blatant display of arrogance and insubordination to him as supervising minister of the EFCC.”