The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Magu

  • 2015 polls’ fraud: We’ll prosecute 205 INEC officials, says Magu

    2015 polls’ fraud: We’ll prosecute 205 INEC officials, says Magu

    Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) implicated in the alleged bribe to influence the outcome of the 2015 general elections are to face trial, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu said yesterday.

    The EFCC boss, speaking when he received INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmud Yakubu and management staff, told his guests that the 2019 elections must be different and free of corruption.

    A statement by the agency’s Head of Media and Publicity Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, quoted Magu as saying:  “What you have done will change the course of electioneering in this country, by bringing in sanity and credibility.

    ”It will send a signal and serve as deterrent to any person, who may wish to perpetrate fraud in the electoral process whether as a monitor or staff of INEC.

    “We are already prosecuting some of the INEC staff. We have started in Lagos and we are in the process in Port-Harcourt, Kano and Gombe.”

    Expressing satisfaction with the collaboration between the two agencies, Magu hailed the INEC chief executive officer for supporting the investigation, which affected some of his workers.

    He assured INEC of EFCC’s continued support because the electoral agency’s functions were central to the future of the country.

    He said the next elections must be different and corruption free.

    Prof. Yakubu, who appreciated the EFCC, said some of the indicted INEC officials had made refunds of their share of the over N3.4 billion bribe cash.

    He said from the list received from the EFCC, 70 workers across three states of the federation “are still in denial and will be referred to the EFCC for further investigation”.

    The INEC chair said about five political appointees, who are either National Commissioners or Resident Commissioners were found wanting.

    He said 21 retired staff, mostly acting under the aegis of WANEO (West African Network of Election Observers ) were also indicted and have been blacklisted from monitoring election or any activity organised by the commission.

    Yakubu added: “If we get our election right and we get our democracy right, the right people will be elected. And once we get our democracy right, we will get national progress and development on track.

    “INEC, the EFCC are on the same page in this big responsibility of sanitising the country.”

    In Yakubu’s entourage were some National Commissioners and directors including Amina Bawa Zakari, Baba Arfo Shettima, Prof. Okey Ibeanu, Mr. Abubakar Nahuche, Mohammed Haruna, Prof. Anthonia Okoosi Simbine, Musa H. Adamu, Oluwole Osaze Uzzi and  Rotimi Oyekanmi.

    The EFCC has been investigating the bribery scandal, which was allegedly facilitated by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

    About four oil firms, some directors of some oil companies, two banks, some politicians and more than 283 INEC officials are under probe.

    Many of the indicted INEC workers and politicians have owned up and refunded money to the EFCC.

    Some choice assets belonging to the affected officials have been placed under Interim Asset Forfeiture until the determination of cases against them.

    A panel, headed by Shettima, had made the following shocking discoveries:

    • An NGO, West African Network of Electoral Observers, was used to share the bribe to INEC officials;
    • A former chairman of INEC (names withheld) coordinated the large-scale bribery scandal;
    • Many former Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and retired administrative secretaries were used to penetrate INEC in all the 36 states for the bribery to alter poll results;
    • Some serving RECs and directors benefitted from the bribery scandal as confirmed by EFCC’s investigations;
    • A REC, who completed his tenure on Friday, collected between N107 million and N140 million cash; and
    • Some RECs and INEC staff collected as much as over N100 million, others were given as low as N150,000 to compromise the electoral system.
  • Buhari insists on Magu

    Buhari insists on Magu

    IBRAHIM Magu will remain the boss at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Presidency has said.

    Twice the Senate has refused to confirm Magu as the agency’s chairman, but the Presidency remains undeterred by the rejection.

    It believes that:

    • the Presidency does not necessarily need to seek Magu’s confirmation – going by Section 171 of the 1979 Constitution; and
    • President Muhammadu Buhari is satisfied with Magu’s response to the report of the Department of State Services (DSS) on which the Senate based its action.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated the government’s position in an interview with some media houses.

    According to The Cable, an online medium which was part of the interview, Osinbajo said President Buhari did not find the indictment by the DSS a strong reason to replace Magu.

    The Vice President said the President felt the DSS report was “not meritorious” enough to withdraw Magu’s nomination.

    Osinbajo said: “We should commend the president for not interfering with what the DSS said. The DSS came up with a report and the man who was accused refuted it.

    “He explains and gives a reason. When that happened, the president looked at what Magu said and what the DSS wrote and he said ‘I am satisfied with what Magu said’.

    “He then decided to retain Magu as the nominee for EFCC. I don’t see any reason why that should be contested.

    “The president has not interfered with what the DSS said. If he wanted to interfere, he would have ordered the DSS to keep quiet. He didn’t do that, but he said ‘I don’t think the DSS report is meritorious enough to withdraw his nomination.’

    “The president reserves the right to say, ‘this is who I want’. I’m fully in support of Magu as the EFCC chairman just as the president is.”

    Osinbajo faulted the Senate for rejecting Magu based on DSS reports claiming that the decision was not in line with global standards. He said it is not only in Nigeria that lawmakers reject nominees based on reports.

    He cited the nomination of the Attorney-General of the United States, Jeff Sessions who was retained by President Donald Trump despite negative reports.

    He added: “You see the American example… There are various reports. People come up with all sorts of things. Look at Jeff Sessions (US attorney-general), for instance. There were many reports. Some accused him of being racist, some of this and that, but he is in office today.”

    The Vice President said in the light of Section 171 of the 1999 Constitution, the President can retain Magu as EFCC chairman without confirmation by the Senate.

    He said the Constitution is much more superior to EFCC Act which recommends the confirmation of the nominee for EFCC chairman.

    He insisted that the Presidency can represent Magu for confirmation or leave him to do his job.

    He said: “It is up to the Senate to make their judgment, and it is up to us say what we want to do. If our candidate is rejected, we can represent him. No law says we can’t represent him. And again, there is the other argument, whether or not we need to present him for confirmation and that’s a compelling argument from Femi Falana.

    “His argument is that under the constitution, Section 171, and if you look at that section, it talks about the appointments that the president can make. They include appointments of ministers, ambassadors and heads of agencies, such as the EFCC.

    “In that same Section 171, the Constitution rightly said that certain appointments must go to the Senate, such as ministerial and ambassadorial appointments. Those of heads of agencies like the EFCC do not have to go to the Senate. That’s what the constitution says.

    “But the EFCC Act, which of course as you know is inferior, says that EFCC chairman should go to the Senate for confirmation.

    “I am sure that even a pocket book lawyer knows that when a legislation conflicts with constitution, it’s the constitution that prevails.

    “I agree with Mr. Falana that there was no need in the first place to have sent Magu’s name to the Senate, but we did so and it was rejected by the Senate, but I believe that it can be represented.

    “I don’t think there is anything wrong about the fact that the Senate has rejected him. The Senate has acted in its own wisdom to say ‘No, we don’t want him’, and we can say, ‘This is our candidate… we like the gentleman and we want him to continue.”

    The Senate has twice rejected the nomination of Magu by Mr. President due to adverse reports from the Department of State Security (DSS). At the last rejection, the lawmakers specifically asked that Magu be sacked and not represented for the position.

    For the second time, the Senate on March 15 rejected Magu following reports from the DSS.

    It recommended that Magu be sacked and not re-presented for the position.

    To make good its threats, the Senate on March 28 suspended the confirmation of 27 newly appointed Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in protest against the continued stay of Magu as acting chairman of EFCC.

  • Lawyers: Presidency right to back Magu

    Lawyers: Presidency right to back Magu

    Some lawyers yesterday backed the Presidency’s decision to allow Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to remain in office despite the Senate’s refusal to confirm him.

    Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Second Vice President Monday Ubani and Lagos lawyer Tope Alabi said the Presidency’s position is legally correct and that Magu can continue to act as EFCC chair.

    But, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Abiodun Owonikoko, said either the executive or the legislature should approach the Supreme Court for an interpretation of what he described as a legal problem.

    He said he could not reconcile the fact that the executive would send names to the Senate for confirmation, and when the person is rejected, retain the person in acting capacity.

    Owonikoko said either of the parties could ask the Supreme Court to resolve the “serious matter” since both arms are insisting they are right.

    Ubani said the Presidency’s position may be legally correct, but not politically savvy.

    The former NBA Ikeja branch chairman said: “Conflicts are resolved in civilised climes by recourse to law of the land. Before now, EFCC chairman was usually confirmed by the Senate. Magu’s confirmation generated so much controversy for several reasons.

    “He was Acting Chairman for too long during which he went after several senators who were alleged to have one corruption case or the other and this put his confirmation in clear jeopardy.

    “He did not go for ordinary senators alone, he also went after Saraki Bukola, the Senate President, for breach of Code of Conduct rules for public officers and this happened while he was the Governor of Kwara State.

    “Knowing how the typical Nigerian politicians operate, it would have been surprising for the Senate to confirm Magu ordinarily without much ado, in the light of the fact that many of them were under his investigation.

    “Magu’s matter became compounded when the Department of State Services (DSS), an agency under the executive arm, wrote an adverse report against Magu and submitted it straight to the Senate without the knowledge of the Presidency, at least so we were told.

    “The Senate that was looking for any deadly bullet for Magu saw many bullets in the letter of the DSS which they used maximally to turn down his confirmation two solid times.”

    Ubani said going by facts, the Presidency believes that Magu is very key to its fight against corruption, having justified that confidence over time.

    “The VP is right on the position of the law with regard to Magu being retained as the head of EFCC but there are consequences for this legally correct position. There are consequences due to the nature of the Senate we have now in Nigeria.

    “They are as follows: a frosty relationship between the Senate and the Presidency which may linger throughout this administration; no budget approval for EFCC as an agency; refusal to bend backwards for the Presidency over pending bills in the Senate; collateral issues that may affect governance generally.

    “We have not heard the last over Magu’s matter. Nigerians expect the resolution of this matter soon and for good governance to be given to Nigerians who were promised ‘change’ by the APC administration.

    “Time is ticking and Nigerians await the fulfillment of all the promises, including deadly fight against corruption. They must not fail Nigerians!,” Ubani said.

    A member of the Ogun State Judiciary Commission, Abayomi Omoyinmi, said the Presidency was in order to have endorsed Magu to continue in office in his capacity as the acting EFFC chair.

    “No law has been violated by Vice President Osinbajo’s endorsement in this regard. Section 171 of the 1999 constitution is clear and unambiguous as to the acting capacity at which Mr Magu can continue to act even despite the rejection of him as the substantive EFFC boss,” he said.

    Activist-lawyer Tope Alabi said the Senate’s refusal to confirm Magu does not mean he cannot continue to act in office.

    He said the president was at liberty to appoint anyone in acting capacity so long as the president remains in office.

  • Senate, Magu and anti-graft war

    Senate, Magu and anti-graft war

    The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could not have asked for more. With a majority in the National Assembly, getting what it wants from the legislature should not be a problem. So, many thought. But rather than work together, the Presidency and the Senate, especially, have been working at cross-purposes. 12 of the 109-member Senate are either being tried or investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies. Senate President Bukola Saraki is being tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false assets declaration. The Senate’s rejection of Ibrahim Magu as EFCC Chairman, for the second time last month, has raised a question of how fair the upper chamber was to him. Can the Senate be trusted to help President Muhammadu Buhari in the ongoing anti-corruption war? ERIC IKHILAE sought lawyers’ views.

    ALMOST two years in the saddle, the Muhammadu Buhari-led government, whose policy thrust is anchored on the elimination of corruption has yet to make major breakthroughs and many are blaming the Senate for this.

    The government is finding it difficult to establish a robust legal framework to drive its anti-corruption efforts. Today, many bills sent to the Senate in this regard have been left unattended to.

    The executive resorted to an administrative policy when the Senate did not pass the Whistle-Blowing Bill, intended to provide legal backing for whistle-blowers and also protect them.

    Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN), in a television programme, expressed the executive’s frustration with the Legislature’s posture.

    Malami said the National Assembly’s failure to pass the Proceed of Crime Act (POCA) Bill pending before it accounts for the Federal Government’s inability to establish a body to manage recovered assets. He said: “If Proceed of Crimes Act had been promulgated, we would have had in place an agency that would formulate policy on the management of recovered loot”.

    There are many other similar bills pending before the Senate, some of which are the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill and Money Laundering (Prohibition and Prevention) Bill.

    To many, the Senate’s posture did not come as a surprise, because it has from inception, evinced traits that portray it as an institution averse to the Buhari government’s anti-corruption policy.

    This school of thought is quick to cite the Senate’s amendment of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Act amid the trial of its president Bukola Saraki.

    By the amendment, the Senate sought to subject the CCB/CCT to the control of the legislature and not of the Executive.

    The Senate ignored the agitation of all, including the CCT and the Judiciary, that, for effectiveness and independence, the CCT, in particular, must be severed from the executive and retained with the Judiciary.

    They also cited the Senate’s refusal to confirm the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman as another proof that it is working against the government.

    The Senate, observers noted, crossed the line, when its members asked the Federal Government to discontinue Saraki’s trial before the CCT, as a condition for it’s support for the government’s policies, including the war against corruption.

     

    How we got here

    Watchers believe that two factors are responsible for all this. First, they noted, was the process leading to the emergence of the Senate leadership. Second is the composition of the Senate.

    They argued that President Buhari’s seeming lack of interest in the choice of leadership of the Senate accounts for why the legislature and the executive now appear to be working apart.

    According to observers, the president should from the onset have shown interest in who leads the Senate, to ensure the success of the anti-corruption war.

    It may be difficult getting the Senate to key into the war because some of its members are either being tried or investigated for alleged corruption.

     

    Senators on trial or under probe for alleged corruption

    Investigation by The Nation revealed that major players in the 8th Senate are either being tried or investigated for corruption-related offences.

    Some of these senators were named in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/102/2017 instituted at the Federal High Court, Abuja by businessman, Raji Oyewumi. According to Oyewunmi, they include the following:

    Saraki

    Oyewumi in a supporting affidavit, noted that Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki is being tried before the CCT on false assets declaration charges,

    Godswill Akpabio

    Senator Godswill Akpabio is being investigated on allegations of diversion and embezzlement of public funds while in office as Akwa Ibom State governor.

    Aliyu Wammako

    Senator Aliyu Wammako, he said, is being investigated by the EFCC in relation to alleged abuse of office, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering while in office as Sokoto State governor.

    Danjuma Goje

    Senator Danjuma Goje, a former governor of Gombe State, Oyewumi noted, is being tried by the EFCC for charges relating to corrupt practices and money laundering before a Federal High Court in Gombe, in a charge marked: FHC/GM/CR/33C)2011.

    Joshua Dariye

    Senator Joshua Dariye, Oyewumi said, is being tried by the EFCC on a charge marked: FCT/HC/81/2007 before Justice Bukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Gudu. He is accused of embezzling public funds while in office as Plateau State governor.

    Adamu Abdullahi

    Senator Adamu Abdullahi, Oyewumi noted, is being prosecuted in charge No: FHC/LF/CR/8/2010 before the Federal High Court in Lafia, for alleged corrupt practices offences while in office as governor of Nasarawa State.

    Abdul-Aziz Nyako

    Senator Abdul-Aziz Nyako is being tried before the Federal High Court, Abuja, with his father, Murtala Nyako (a former governor of Adamawa State) on a 37-count charge of criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and money laundering to the tune of N29b.

    Jonah Jang

    Senator Jonah Jang, according to Oyewumi, is being investigated by the EFCC in relation to his activities as governor of Plateau State, particularly his handling of N2billion Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) loan given to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Rabiu Kwankwaso

    Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, Oyewumi noted, is being prosecuted by the EFCC on charges related to abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds during his tenure as governor of Kano State.

    Stella Oduah

    Senator Stella Oduah, he stated, is being investigated by the EFCC for a contract awarded while she was Aviation Minister to I-SEC Securities Nigeria Ltd, where public funds were allegedly diverted, according to a petition by Ken Asogwa.

    In October last year, Justice Adamu Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja rejected Oduah’s prayer for among others, an order restraining the EFCC and other investigative agencies from arresting and prosecuting her over the controversial purchase of two armoured BMW vehicles at the cost of N255 million by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCC) under her watch as the Aviation Minister in 2013.

    Theodore Orji

    Senator Theodore Orji is, according to Oyewumi, is being investigated by the EFCC in relation to the alleged misappropriation of public funds while he served as Abia State governor, including the N2 billion SME loan from CBN, as contained in a petition  of a group, Save Abia Initiative for Change.

    Ahmed Sani

    Senator Ahmed Sani, Oyewumi stated, is being investigated by the EFCC in relation to allegations of abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds while in office as Zamfara State governor.

    Beyond the question marks sorrounding the financial dealings of these lawmakers in those transactions, observers argued that the 8th Senate, since its inauguration in 2015, can hardly be associated with any noble deed.

    They noted that with the Senate, it has been one scandal or the other. The latest of such scandals, observers said, is the alleged importation of a bullet proof Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) for the Senate President with forged documents.

    Lawyers, including Wahab Shittu, Abubakar Sani, Tosin Ojaomo, Dan Ikechukwu are worried by the Senate’s posture to the government’s anti-corruption efforts, particularly in relation to Magu’s confirmation.

     

    Senate, Magu and the courts

     

    At the last count, about three cases have been filed, challenging the Senate’s handling of the confirmation of Magu.

    In his suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/59/2017 filed on January 24, 2017 Ojaomo is contending, in the main, that the Senate President (by extension, the Senate) is without the powers to reject a nomination made by the President under Section 2(3) of the EFCC Act 2004.

    Ojaomo said his suit is intended mainly to shed light on the actual role of the Senate in the confirmation of a person appointed by the President as EFCC Chairman, argued that the Senate exceeded its powers when it rejected Magu’s appointment.

    “The only ground on which the Senate can reject a person appearing before it is when the person is nominated and recommended to the Senate for screening, vetting and subsequent confirmation, like a ministerial nominee.

    “In the instant case, the Senate is to confirm the qualification of the appointee as sent by the President. And, where the Senate is of the view that it requires additional information in accordance with the statutory requirements stipulated by the Act, with respect to the qualification of the appointee, it can refer to the President for further clarification, but not to reject a statutory appointment validly made by the President.

    “The role of the Senate in the confirmation of the appointment of a Chairman validly appointed by the President for the EFCC, according to the Act that created the commission, is to ensure that the requirements stipulated in Section 2(1)(a)(i)(ii)(iii) of the Act are duly complied with by the President in making the appointment,” Ojaomo said.

    The Act, in Section 2(1)(a) (i)(ii)(iii), provides: (I) The Commission shall consist of the following members (a) a Chairman, who shall (i) be the chief executive and accounting officer of the Commission; (ii) 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 (iii) possess not less than 15 years’ cognate experience.

    Ojaomo argued that, where the necessary requirements were complied with, “the Senate is statute barred from rejecting the nominee for the office of the Chairman of the EFCC in the said Act or any law.”

    He contended that the Senate erred in law when it held a plenary session and decided to reject a valid nomination made by the President pursuant to his powers under a valid law.

    Ojaomo added that it was only the President that could decide who to appoint as the EFCC Chairman and not the Senate.

    He argued that, the President, having exercised his powers under the EFCC Act to appoint a qualified person for the office of the EFCC Chairman, in compliance with the provisions in sections 2(1)(a)(i)(ii)(iii) and 2(3) of the Act, the Senate has no further say on the choice of a person so appointed.

    Ojaomo wants the court to declare that the Senate has confirmed Magu’s appointment in accordance with the provisions of the EFCC Act 2004. He also seeks a declaration that the Senate lacks the statutory power to reject Magu’s appointment as the EFCC Chairman.

    He also wants an order, activating its statutory powers for the interpretation of the provisions of sections 2(1)(a)(i)(ii)(iii) and 2(3) of the EFCC Act in relation to appointment of EFCC Chairman and Senate’s confirmation of such appointment, within the dictates of the law.

    Infuriated by the Senate’s handling of Magu’ case  case, Abuja-based lawyer, Abubakar Sani has asked the Federal High Court to nullify the provision under Section 2(3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act subjecting the nomination of the President for the Chairman of the EFCC to the confirmation of the Senate.

    In his suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/278/2017, filed on April 4, 2017 in Abuja, Sani wants the court to declare that, to the extent that Section 2(3) of the EFCC Act purports to subject the appointment of the EFCC Chair, by the President, to the confirmation of the Senate, the provision in the EFFC Act is ultra vires and invalid, on the ground that it is inconsistent with the spirit and intendment of the Constitution in Section 216 (2).

    Sani argued that the intention of the provision of Section 216(2) of the Constitution was to give the President a free hand in appointing the heads of law enforcement agencies, without such appointment being subject to confirmation by any person/authority.

    Oyewumi, in his suit filed on February 13, queried the moral standing of Saraki and other senators being investigated and tried for alleged corruption related offences as it relates to issues concerning the decision on whether or not to confirm Magu.

    The plaintiff’s contention is that, since the Senators are either being tried or investigated for economic and financial crimes by the EFCC, Magu will not be afforded fair hearing by the Senate.

    Shittu, a legal practitioner and Law teacher at the University of Lagos, noted that although the senators being investigated and prosecuted are presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, it is naturally impossible for Magu to receive fair hearing before the Senate headed by Saraki and composed of others being similarly tried and investigated.

    The solution

    A lawyer, Joel Chukwuma, argued that President Buhari possesses the capacity to overcome the challenge currently posed by the Senate to the success of his anti -graft war.

    “If the President is serious about achieving success in his fight against corruption, he needs to act. He cannot just sit there and pretend things will fall in place. In politics, particularly under our clime where it is seen as a game of life and death, things do not fall in place on their own.

    “Honestly, I am disappointed in the turn of events. It betrays the president’s political naivety. How did President Buhari expect a Senate, led by someone (whose name is associated in almost everything negative) and populated by individuals (who are either being probed or prosecuted) to support him in fighting corruption?

    “It is either the President learn to act appropriately, by taking the necessary measures, which I believe he knows, or we forget about the ant-graft war,” Chulwuma said.

  • Magu, Senate and ‘Ichabod’ Presidency

    Magu, Senate and ‘Ichabod’ Presidency

    “Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, ‘The glory has departed from Israel’ because the ark of God had been captured and because of her (woebegone) father-in-law and her husband.”-1 Samuel 4:21, The Holy Bible NKJV.

    The audience of the theatre of the absurd always suffer the peculiar dilemma of not knowing whether to laugh or cry at the spectacle before their eyes. So it is with the Nigerian public which has been forced to witness the farce that was the two unsuccessful attempts by President Buhari to get the statutorily mandatory Senate confirmation for his anti-corruption czar Ibrahim Magu. In the discordant din of whether or not Mr. Magu was a ‘performer’ and/or whether or not the Senate was right in its decision, what appears lost on the vast majority of Nigerians is the true purport of the event: a most egregious example of a disorientated, indecisive and indeed probably irredeemably disabled Presidency.

    The United States President Donald Trump famously dismissed Jeb Bush and some of his other opponents for the U.S. Presidency last year as being of ‘low energy’. In keeping with his own self- proclaimed high energy persona, he had his cabinet choices ready before his inauguration for office. It struck me at the time that merely a day after his inauguration Mr. Trump had got the United States Senate to confirm his defence secretary (minister), and who was already at the Pentagon to start work the following day (a Saturday).

    The loquacious Mr. Trump would certainly be short of words were he to categorise his Nigerian counterpart who took over six months to assemble his nondescript cabinet. Given that candidate Buhari could be said to have run for, and was elected to, the Nigerian Presidency on only one major issue of anti-corruption, the least expected was that he would have been ready with his choice of the person to drive the fight against corruption immediately upon his assumption of office. However President Buhari took all of seven months to appoint Mr. Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC], the lead anti-corruption fight agency. As incomprehensible as this tardiness was, the President made matters worse by the strategic error of not promptly getting Mr. Magu confirmed and in the event did not send his name to the Senate for confirmation until after another seven months in July 2016. Even then, the deed was done by the Vice President Osinbajo as Acting President at the time President Buhari was overseas on medical vacation.

    Meanwhile, Mr. Magu who had been in occupation of the office in an acting capacity appears to have been uncompromising in his pursuit of our too many larcenous politicians and business people who seem hell bent on stealing the rest of us into extinction. With the National Assembly, especially the Senate, seemingly the natural habitat of a great percentage of these characters, Mr. Magu even at the best of times was always going to find it very difficult obtaining the senatorial confirmation. As it turned out, the Department of State Security [DSS] appeared on the scene as a willing and effective agent provocateur.

    Beyond the persistent rumours of a civil war within President Buhari’s kitchen cabinet, it became starkly clear to all perceptive observers that there was no love lost between the DSS and EFCC when the latter testified before a National Assembly committee that it was beyond the DSS remit to raid judges’ homes supposedly to stamp out judicial corruption. The problem had obviously gone beyond understandable inter agency rivalry. However, whatever the state of the relationship between both agencies it was inconceivable in the circumstances for the DSS to author a report which trenchantly denied Mr. Magu’s fitness for the office of EFCC Chairman. But that is what happened in the event.

    In the foregoing vein it is a safe, even probably irrebutable, presumption that Mr. Magu enjoyed the President’s trust and approval in the circumstances, otherwise which he would not have been appointed in the first place. Similarly, it is axiomatic that the DSS and EFCC are not only agencies of the Executive branch/Presidency, they share special kinship in the sense of being merely different manifestations of the law enforcement responsibility of the Nigerian state. And both are under the superintendence of the National Security Adviser. Given these facts therefore, and assuming that its position was not considered ever before the nomination, the least expected in the circumstances was that the contrary report of the DSS on Mr. Magu should have first gone through an internal bureaucratic filtration process and by which, depending on the substance of the case against Mr. Magu, either the report would have been discarded or the nomination quietly withdrawn. That way, the President would have been saved the monumental and unprecedented embarrassment and very public humiliation.

    Instead of an adequately decisive response, and reiterating the stupidity of any person holding or thinking of holding the tiger by its tail, the President rather like a punch-drunk boxer ponderously announced his mandate to the Attorney-General of the Federation to investigate the allegations levelled against Mr. Magu in the DSS report. Rather predictably, the Attorney-General returned a ‘not guilty’ verdict, Nigerians were told, and upon which Mr. Magu’s name was resubmitted for senatorial confirmation. Yet again, the DSS stuck to its guns that he lacked the requisite integrity and was not fit for the office.

    The Senate’s humiliating rejection of Mr. Magu of course cast him in pathetic light; it is always a sorry sight watching the hunter being hunted down. But the matter is way beyond Magu the person. News reports were recently awash with the spectacle of one young man who had the temerity to sit on the stool of the Tor Tiv during the monarch’s installation ceremony in Markurdi. According to newspaper reports, he has since been promptly tried in a court of law and sentenced to some years imprisonment. I do not know the specific offence he was charged with but it certainly revolves round his perceived disrespect, desecration even, of a revered stool. However, those who enabled or conjured President Buhari’s predicament in the Magu palaver did worse: they contrived to undress the President in public.

    It beggars belief that President Buhari and his handlers apparently do not realize the dreadful and lasting damage inflicted upon his Presidency in the circumstances of the Senate’s rejection of Mr. Magu. Decisive remedial measures were required to be taken to reassert the Presidency’s severely besmirched image and authority.  I made the point at the time, and became even more convinced by subsequent events, that President Buhari had no justification at all resubmitting Mr. Magu’s name to the Senate without first sacking all those in the DSS involved in penning and sending the anti-Magu report to the Senate. Nothing less would do.

    Resubmission of Mr. Magu’s name for senatorial confirmation and retention of the DSS leadership were, and remain, mutually exclusive unless the design is to turn government into a sick joke. Indeed if Mr. Magu is found to be corrupt, as alleged by the DSS, then the matter should go beyond promptly dropping him from further consideration for the job but he should also be prosecuted. At any rate, and given the heavily polluted water under the bridge in this case, it is inconceivable for the headship of both the EFCC and DSS to remain unchanged. Corruption-manifesting mainly in economic and financial crimes-may well be the biggest extant threat to Nigerian national security and there is therefore considerable coalescence in the objectives of both organisations.

    That there must be complete cooperation between them is therefore an article of faith for the Nigerian state. However, the headship of the EFCC and DSS are burdened by deep seated mutual distrust and have freely and openly exchanged charges of lack of integrity. It is thus unquestionably in our overall national interest that at least one must be sent away from office. The coach of a professional football team cannot have his two central defence partners not talking to each other and expect anything other than calamitous results. One, if not both, of the central defenders must be sold for the team to make any progress.

    One lesson observable from the unfolding tragedy of the Buhari Presidency is that is that the problem is all self-inflicted. There were loud protests when President Buhari insouciantly restricted his kitchen cabinet to what could be called a band of ‘Kanuri-Daura and allied’ irredentists. As so insensitively lopsided as the appointments were, I had counseled the exercise of patience and understanding for the taciturn infantry general. If only his kinsmen and women and those of his mother are the persons who would best assist him in getting Nigeria on the right track, then so be it. Well, the jury has returned and the verdict is devastating. Team Buhari is failing spectacularly and it appears the major reason is his insularity and nepotism.

    It does appear that the members of the President’s inner circle of power and influence acknowledge at a subconscious level that they did not need any qualification more than close family or such ties to him to occupy their exalted offices. Hence, their seeming lack of determination to justify themselves on the basis of stellar performance and overall merit. It is against this background of insouciance that we can understand why exalted officers of state would be so oblivious of the responsibilities of appearance on the national stage, and choosing to indulge in their petty personal and or clannish quarrels to our collective detriment. In this free-wheeling, ethics-free milieu it becomes a legitimate question if the fight against corruption is still alive. The buck however stops on President Buhari’s desk. At the news of Governor El Rufai’s letter of admonitions to him and listening to Emir Lamido Sanusi’s repeated advise on how Buhari could pick up the baton-which has so obviously fallen from his grasp-one becomes hopeful that the falcon may yet hear the falconer. Otherwise, we may discover to our collective doom that time may have passed for the best advice to Buhari, and which would have been that offered by Cardinal Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell:

    “Mark but my fall, and that that ruin’d  me.

    Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition; By that sin fell the angels;…..be just and fear not. Let all the ends though aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.”-Shakespeare, Henry VIII; act III, sc.2.

     

    • Okoli, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is a past Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos Branch.
  • Osinbajo, Malami, Magu, DSS move to save anti-graft war

    Osinbajo, Malami, Magu, DSS move to save anti-graft war

    • FG seeks water-tight prosecution of corrupt elements
    • Fresh prosecution strategy adopted

    The Federal Government has gone back to the drawing board to re-strategize on its prosecution of corruption-related cases.

    This followed its recent losses, one after the other, of four high profile corruption-related cases in court.

    First was the unfreezing, on the order of a Federal High Court, Lagos, of the account of Lagos lawyer Mike Ozekhome (SAN),  which is said to hold a sum of N75million professional fee paid to him by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had alleged that the money was proceeds of corruption.

    Next was the discharge and acquittal of Justice Adeniyi Ademola and his wife of charges of corruption and possession of firearms filed against them.

    The initial forfeiture of a sum of $5m found in an account of former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was similarly reversed on the order of another court, while the Minister of Niger Delta in the Jonathan administration, Elder Godsday Orubebe was also discharged and acquitted after Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the federation, told the   Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that the case filed against the former minister did not exist.

    The ICPC had accused him of diverting N1.97 billion meant for the compensation of owners of property on the Eket Urban section of the East-West road in Eket, Akwa Ibom State.

    It was gathered that government was shocked by the development which it perceived as a terrible blow to its anti-corruption crusade.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the weekend met with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami and heads of other prosecuting agencies on the situation.

    These are the Director-General of the Department of State Security Service (DSS), Mr. Lawan Daura, Acting Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Mr. Sam Saba.

    Although the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta was away on official assignment, the agency was represented.

    Osinbajo directed the agencies to henceforth ensure a water-tight prosecution of corruption suspects.

    He also asked the heads of the agencies to cooperate with the bench in handling all such matters.

    Government, sources said, was disturbed that vital cases were lost on technical grounds to some suspects.

    A highly-placed source said: “Losing four or five high profile cases in quick succession was seen as a setback for the anti-graft war.

    “As a Professor of Law of Evidence, Osinbajo had a review session with all the heads of prosecuting agencies on what technically went wrong on some of these cases.

    “Although the government has filed appeal on the rulings of the affected courts, the VP stepped in to arrest the slide.

    “The heads of the agencies have been directed to ensure diligent investigation, water-tight prosecution and place sufficient evidence before the court.

    “All constraints affecting the legal team will be addressed accordingly.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “The VP asked the agencies to collaborate among themselves instead of petty rivalry.

    “He also told them to cooperate with the bench on all matters before the court.”

    A top source said: “The presidency will now take more than a passing interest in all anti-graft cases. There will be effective monitoring and constant review.

    “Save the case of former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe, the government will file appeal against most of the rulings of the court on the lost cases.”

  • Buhari should stick with Magu as EFCC chief – The Nation poll

    Respondents in The Nation online poll have asked the Senate to confirm Mr. Ibrahim Magu as substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for his confirmation as anti-corruption arrowhead.

    The Senate had twice rejected Magu’s nomination, citing the Department of State Service (DSS) report which indicted the anti-graft czar for “integrity flaws.”

    The upper legislative chamber claimed Magu lacks integrity to lead the EFCC.

    However, Nigerians have urged President Buhari to stick with Magu in order not to jeopardize the administration’s anti-corruption crusade.

    In all, 3, 262 readers responded to the poll question – “Should President Buhari replace acting chairman of EFCC Ibrahim Magu as demanded by Senate” – posted on our website – www.staging.thenationonlineng.net

    The readers were required to pick from three options – (a) Yes, (b) No and, (c) I don’t know.

    While 824 readers or 25 per cent of the total respondents voted “Yes” indicating that the President should dump the Borno-born administrator, 2, 366 or 73 per cent asked President Buhari to ignore the senators and stick with Magu.

    The remaining 72 readers or two per cent of the total respondents picked “I don’t know.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Magu in the belly of the whale

    Magu in the belly of the whale

    Nothing illustrates better the disabling dysfunction that characterizes the Muhammadu Buhari presidency as a whole and its anti-corruption war in particular than the executive’s protracted face off with the senate as regards the stalled confirmation of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Twice the presidency’s request in this respect has met a brick wall at the upper legislative chamber and the senate is now pushing an even harder line of refusing to confirm President Muhammadu Buhari’s nominees to fill vacant positions of Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) for two weeks in the first instance until Magu ceases to act as the commission’s in line with the legislators’ demand.

    The 8th senate has confoundingly grown in confidence and arrogance despite its low esteem in the eyes of the discerning public and the questionable moral integrity of a number of its members that taints the body as a collective. Most amazingly, though standing on a higher ethical pedestal largely because of Buhari’s own untainted personal anti-corruption credentials, it is the executive that is bending over backwards to seek a truce with a legislature widely perceived as morally crippled and that from what is obviously a position of weakness.

    It is difficult in the first place to understand why Magu had to act for so long before his name was forwarded to the senate for confirmation. He had proven his bona fides as head of the EFCC operations under the chairmanship of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. Magu was reputedly responsible for some of the high profile investigations that exposed the vulnerable underbelly of many otherwise untouchable political big wigs including the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki when he was governor of Kwara State (2003-2011). It was because some of these politicians had come to acquire considerable influence during the Umaru Yar’Adua presidency that Magu was hounded out of the EFCC, persecuted and punished unjustly by the police authorities, detained briefly and even had to flee the country at a time. Yet, the Department of State Services (DSS) cites the allegations against him by his traducers as one of the reasons why Magu failed its ‘integrity test’.

    Given his diligent and dogged prosecution of the anti-corruption war as Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Magu had made many enemies for himself among the decadent political elite. There is no way he could have had a smooth sail through the Senate, for example with not only the head of the upper chamber but no less than a dozen other senators  being under the rigorous and uncompromising searchlight  of the EFCC under Magu’s supervision. There are also reports that a number of governors worked against his confirmation particularly because of the EFCC’s ongoing investigations into alleged   illegal diversion of Paris Club bailout funds by some states. It would surely have been a completely different scenario if his name had been sent earlier to the senate and he had resumed office as substantive chairman of the agency ab initio.

    But then this kind of lethargy and systemic immobility on the part of the Buhari presidency is not exclusive to the Magu case. Nearly two years into this administration, ambassadors are yet to be posted to several countries including those very critical not just to the country’s foreign policy but also her domestic economic policies particularly in these recessionary times. In the same vein, boards of most federal parastatals are yet to be either constituted or reconstituted. Those appointed in the preceding dispensation are still sitting pretty on the boards even as the presidency continues to exhibit a paralysis of the will that is simply inexplicable.

    Part of the problems with the administration’s anti-graft war despite Buhari’s undeniably honest intentions is the President’s apparent disdain for partisan politics. This is not necessarily a bad thing especially as we have had cause to condemn his predecessors who cheapened and devalued the exalted office by descending without caution into the partisan arena. However, if the President is averse to politics, he must have a competent and skilled team with the network and diplomatic astuteness to manage this critical area for him. This is especially so because the signature policy of his administration, which is the anti-corruption war, is being fought within the context of politics.

    Thus, the President’s anti -corruption war is being hobbled, for example, partly by lack of cooperation from the legislature, an arm of government indispensable to the fight against graft, largely because of Buhari’s initial indifference to the character of those who emerged as leaders of the National Assembly. It is not enough for the administration’s functionaries to complain at every turn that corruption is fighting back. That refrain can be very annoying. Of course, corruption is not expected to sit back and fold its arms while it is clubbed to death. It will necessarily fight back and it is doing so effectively under the current headship of the senate, whose political dexterity one cannot but respect despite the huge moral albatross under which he labours. His ability to command the support and allegiance of majority of the senators across the board despite his immense vulnerabilities is truly remarkable.

    The management of the President’s politics has not been helped by the sheer complacency as well as lack of purpose or focus of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the chairmanship of Chief John Odigie Oyegun. Is it not astonishing that it was only this week that the National Working Committee (NEC) of the APC met formally with the senate caucus of the party nearly two years after the inauguration of the 8th Senate? Such complacency and incompetence is inexcusable. Oyegun may have been an outstanding federal Permanent Secretary and performed creditably as Edo State governor on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the aborted Third Republic. However, the blunt truth is that he seems out of his depths in his current assignment. The Buhari presidency is in dire need of a party that is more dynamically, vibrantly and proactively led if it is to make more meaningful progress with its anti-corruption war and other key planks of its policy platform.

    Equally uninspiring is the administration’s handling of the intra-organizational politics of its own presidency. This is why it is so difficult to blame the senate for stone walling on Magu when another agency under the presidency, the Department of State Services (DSS), provided it with a damning security report to nail the embattled Acting EFCC Chairman. To be sure, President Buhari must be commended for giving the DSS a free hand to do its job. As far as I know this is the first time in this dispensation that the secret service is being given the organizational autonomy to do its work professionally without undue presidential interference. Even then, this statement must be qualified when due note is taken of the DSS’s continued illegal indefinite detention of former National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Goodluck Jonathan, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd) and spiritual head of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Mallam El Zak Zaky in defiance of court orders that they should be released. It is difficult to believe that the motive here is genuinely that of protecting the national interest.

    Nobody says that the DSS should automatically clear any nominee for public office simply because the President desires it. What appears incongruous is that the secret service apparently gave Magu a clean bill of health with the presidency before the latter forwarded his name to the senate only for the same DSS to ambush him at the latter end. The greater embarrassment is not for Magu but the presidency which comes out of it all looking amateurish, unsure and uncoordinated. It would have been tidier for the DSS to make its report on Magu available to the presidency so that his name would not have been forwarded for confirmation at all.

    Some of the allegations against Magu by the DSS cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Perhaps the most serious is his reported fraternization with an allegedly shady businessman under investigation by the DSS. Yet, no business links have been established between Magu and the said businessman. Magu’s vehement denial of the allegation that the businessman paid for his official accommodation has not been disproved either by the DSS or the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) responsible for securing and paying for the residence. No nexus has been established between EFCC official documents reportedly found in the businessman’s residence and Magu. No conflict of interest against Magu has been established. He has not been found culpable of any corrupt practices. At best he can be blamed for some degree of indiscretion. But compared to the moral putrescence of some of the senators who gleefully adjudged him as failing some nebulous ‘integrity test’, Magu is a veritable saint.

    Buhari may be tempted to offer Magu as the sacrificial lamb whose blood will be shed to propitiate the senate gods with feet of clay in the purported interest of more harmonious legislative-executive relations. But if the capacious corruption whale succeeds in swallowing Magu and mortally decapitating his EFCC career, will the next Chairman of the agency who receives the senate’s approbation,  not tread ever so cautiously and timidly so that he or she does not ultimately end up in the Leviathan’s belly? Will this not signal ominous portents for Buhari’s anti-corruption war?

  • EFCC: Lagos lawyer did not appoint Chief of Staff for Magu

    EFCC: Lagos lawyer did not appoint Chief of Staff for Magu

    THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana(SAN), did not appoint Chief of Staff for its Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu.

    It said it has never handed over any property of a former Governor of Bayelsa State, the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, to Falana.

    The clarifications were made in a statement by the commission’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren.

    The statement said: “Our attention has been drawn to a malicious and misleading report trending on the social media platforms that Ola Olukoyede, Chief of Staff (CoS) to Ibrahim Magu, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC was a staff “seconded” to the Commission from the Chambers of Femi Falana (SAN).

    “The report further alleged that Falana is a beneficiary of some of the properties recovered by the commission from the late Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, former Governor of Bayelsa State, hence the secondment of Olukoyede to the EFCC.

    “The allegations are not only unfounded but evil, as all the properties recovered from the former governor have been returned to the Bayelsa State government.

    “For the record, Olukoyede was not ‘seconded’ to the EFCC by Falana and he has never worked in Femi Falana’s Chambers. He was head hunted based on his pedigree.

    “Even if he had worked for Falana, it may not have mattered as working for Falana is not a criminal offence in the nation’s statute.

    “It is also important to state that Falana is not a counsel to the EFCC and has never interfered in the operations of the agency.

    “The author of the mischievous and misleading information went ahead to give the telephone number of the CoS and asked members of the public to call and enquire if he was indeed a former staff of Femi Falana’s Chambers.

    “He has therefore been bombarded with unsolicited calls by members of the public.

    Whoever is behind this criminal act should desist forthwith as any attempt to further malign the reputation of Olukoyede and the EFCC would not go unchallenged.”

  • EFCC to establish anti-graft desks in foreign missions

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday said it would set up anti-corruption desks in Nigerian foreign missions to fast-track tracing, recovery and repatriation of looted funds stashed abroad.

    The Acting Chairman of the commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, stated this at a five-day induction programme for the 45 non-career ambassadors-designate in Abuja.

    Magu said EFCC operatives and other law enforcement agencies would be deployed to the Nigerian missions abroad starting with United States, United Komgdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, South Africa and Ghana.

    The EFCC chief expressed the belief that the move would complement the efforts of the government in the fight against corruption and recovery of looted funds.

    He said, “To enhance international cooperation in the fight against corruption, we will propose the establishment of EFCC desk, with our operatives deployed to collaborate with other law enforcement agencies in our foreign missions.

    “They will assist in the investigation of crimes bordering on money laundering, cyber- crimes, advance fee fraud and issues relating to asset recovery.

    “We can start with the posting of officers to U.S., UK, France, Italy, Switzerland, South Africa and Ghana in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

    Magu expressed concern that asset recovery process was time consuming, complex and required a great deal of resources, expertise and political will.

    He said the process that included tracing, freezing, confiscation and repatriation, presented unique challenges, rooted in international relations and diplomacy.

    NAN