APC Leaders’ Last-ditch Effort on Magu
With last week’s position of the APC Senate caucus during a meeting with the leadership of the party, a re-nomination of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of EFCC will be pushing his choice too far, writes Onyebuchi Ezigbo
Afinal seal may have been placed on the chances of the embattled acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, of being confirmed as the substantive chairman of the anti-graft agency. This follows last Tuesday’s effort by the leadership of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which failed to convince its senators to change their minds on the matter.
At a closed-door meeting held at the National Assembly between members of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) led by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, most of the senators were said to have stood their ground on the issue of the rejection of Magu as the EFCC chairman. The senators expressed disappointment that their resolution on Magu, had not received any response from the president, despite his rejection, twice by the senate.
“We feel disrespected as an institution. How can the Senate send a memo to the president on Magu and there would be no response? But by choosing to be silent and letting him continue in acting capacity, it is a slight on us as an equal arm of government,” a lawmaker was quoted to have said at a meeting described as explosive.
Not oblivious of what is on the ground and the delicate nature of the face-off between the executive and the legislative arms of government, Oyegun tried to placate the senators during his peace meeting with APC Senate Caucus last week. He also went further to appeal for caution from both sides in order to help fathom a quick resolution of the rift.
“I want to pay tribute to the National Assembly for the degree of cooperation that they have been extending to the Executive in spite of the seeming differences under the surface. Secondly, I want to say that we have now completed our consultations with the National Assembly and we are going to move forward from now,” he said, adding that it was necessary for all, at all levels of governance to maintain some level of respect and civility.
He continued: “My appeal is that as we start re-constructing relationship and consultations. There should be what I call a cease-fire in terms of the kind of verdict used all round. Once that is done I can assure you and assure the nation that in the next couple of weeks, we will have a level of amity, cohesion, cooperation and mutual respect between (sic) the three arms of government and the party”.
For all its efforts at the meeting, what the leadership of the APC got from its senators was an assurance that they would not allow the disagreement over Magu’s appointment as well as other unresolved issues between them and the executive to affect governance. All the party could extract from the meeting was summed up in the few words of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki: “For us in the Senate, we are focused. We will continue to do the work”.
The Senate had for a second time running rejected the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as the substantive chairman of the EFCC, after the State Security Service reaffirmed its position that the nominee lacks integrity to lead the agency. To further worsen his case, Mr. Magu was said to have failed to answer critical questions posed to him by Senators during his last defence appearance.
The lawmakers, however, based their position on damming DSS report dated March 14, which raised doubts over the integrity of Magu to hold the exalted office. The Borno state-born police officer, nonetheless, tried to explain the issues but could not convince the senators that his integrity had not been smeared by the security report.
While quoting the DSS report, Senator Dino Melaye said, “In the light of the foregoing, Magu has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption stand of the current government”.
Although Magu later made spirited efforts to defend himself against most of the allegations by the DSS, including questioning the credibility of the DSS, which he said dispatched two reports on him with varying contents on the same day, all that did not impress the lawmakers and they held to their position, that he must step down as the EFCC boss.
The stand of the Senate did not go without opposition. The chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council on Anti-corruption Campaign, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Professor Itse Sagay, came to the rescue of Magu, giving him a clean bill of health as far of the allegations raised in the DSS report were concerned.
Sagay advised President Buhari to keep Magu in acting capacity even as the president’s insistence on Magu was said to have followed investigations carried out by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami; and the Sagay-led presidential advisory council on anticorruption.
The investigations, which absolved Magu of any wrongdoing, formed the basis for his being recommended for re-nomination by the president. In his letter to the Senate, Buhari said investigations revealed that Magu was not guilty of allegations laid against him by the DSS, hence his re-nomination.
Clearly, the current rift between the legislature and the executive will have serious impact on governance and the ability of the two arms of government to effectively discharge their functions and cooperate. Notwithstanding the assurances being given by both sides, the bad blood caused by the disagreement and resistance still being put up by government appointees to invitations from the Senate will no doubt affect the already strained relationship.
Besides, the resolve to retain the EFCC boss in acting capacity will also not serve the best interest of the country’s war against corruption as this will only weaken his capacity to perform his functions. Even if Magu thinks otherwise that he could still muster the courage to deal with corrupt elements, there is obviously no way he can go against the interests of those on the side of the executive arm of government from where he now derives support and strength.
Given the stance of the APC senators on the matter and the unanimous position of the PDP senators against his nomination, there are fears that retaining him in that position would only widen the gulf between the executive and the legislature.
Given the stance of the APC senators on the matter and the unanimous position of the PDP senators against his nomination, there are fears that retaining him in that position would only widen the gulf between the executive and the legislature