AGF Malami Has Helped Buhari Solve ‘The Ibrahim Magu Problem’
No fair-minded Nigerian who has lived in the country since 2015 would belittle the contribution of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under Ibrahim Magu to the anti-corruption fight of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. Not only has he taken the fight to the top of the politically exposed persons in the country, but the commission had also secured notable convictions which clearly justified the confidence reposed in his abilities by President Buhari.
Buhari kept him on since March 2017 as acting chairman of the EFCC even when the eighth senate rejected him and failed to confirm his nomination on the basis of alleged security report indicting the man. Magu benefitted from public sympathy at the time because the then Senate, presided by Bukola Saraki, was thought to be adversarial and corrupt, and could not have confirmed the man.
But since then, Magu has continued to swim in dirty waters and controversies have never been far from him. There have been reports suggesting he may not be as clean as initially thought, with his name constantly been linked with different properties at home and abroad. It is now beyond question that his alleged weaknesses may be compromising his abilities to do the job. In more decent societies, Magu would have excused himself and resign.
The latest addition to catalogue is a memo said to have been written to Buhari by no less than the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, regarding the acting EFFCC chairman. Media reports this week claimed Malami had recommended the sacking of Magu from the EFCC, and even suggested his replacement for the job. Malami has not denied the reports, meaning the reports are true.
In the memo, Malami reportedly accused Magu of a litany of integrity crimes ranging from diversion of recovered loot to insubordination and misconduct. Malami, who is the supervisory authority over EFCC, is said to have revealed in the memo that there were discrepancies and accounting gaps in figures concerning recovered assets in the custody of the EFCC. Malami had suggested, perhaps, without saying so, that the man asked to catch thieves may also be lightfingered. I have also read some subtle defense of Magu against allegation of tampering with recovered loot, but they seemed to me to validate Malami’s memo. For instance, an anonymous person defending him against Malami told a newspaper: “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.”
How can this explanation exonerate Magu from allegation that he couldn’t give proper account of recovered loot? How can the EFCC not have proper record of what it had recovered from suspects and convicts? To me this is a very serious allegation which is not helped by Magu’s reported arrogance and insubordination.
According to the reports, Malami claimed that most of the recovered assets by the EFCC were sold by Magu without the knowledge of anyone! I have no doubt in my mind that this is the time for Buhari to part ways with the anti-graft czar whether the allegations made against him by Malami are true or not.
The Buhari administration cannot afford to have a man with integrity issues as the head of its anti-graft agency, especially in view of the fact that anti-corruption is a major agenda of the Administration and reason many Western countries including the United States of America have supported the President.
Public sympathy has worn thin for Magu in recent times and the Malami memo may be the final nail on the coffin. I do not see how Magu can wriggle out of the damning allegations against him by the nation’s chief law officer. The argument that corruption may be fighting back or that some power forces were arrayed against him holds no water for me.
Malami and Magu were appointed by the same President Buhari. Malami himself had been targeted by unknown forces who have worked to undermine his position as AGF and use the media against him. Many are inclined to believe that instead of corruption fighting back at Magu, it may actually be fighting back against Malami who is perceived as a loyal aide of Buhari and an uncompromising AGF.
Buhari has to solve the Magu problem before it becomes an embarrassment for him and the his administration. Even though the law allows him to continue in acting capacity as boss of EFCC, it is now no longer a matter of legality. It is a matter of how much of moral authority Magu has left for him to be able to lead the EFCC, an agency that should hold the mirror to all public officials and save the country from the cesspit of corruption.
Many groups and individuals had gone to court to challenge the continued stay of Magu as the acting chairman of the commission. But Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had ruled in a judgment in 2019 that there was no time limit in the law establishing the EFCC for him to act as the chairman. The Judge held that it was up to the President who appointed him to send his name to the Senate for confirmation.
If Buhari sends his name to the Senate again, there is no assurance that he would be confirmed, otherwise the President would have long sent his name for confirmation as he had done for other appointees recently. It is obvious that Magu had become a burden on President Buhari , and he needs to get rid of it. Malami has made it easier for the President with his recent memo.
The President has other more pressing problems of insecurity and the economy to deal with. He cannot afford to be looking at his back and over his shoulders to see if the anti-corruption agenda of his administration is still on course. This is the time for him to find a replacement who would have none of the baggage of Magu, but who also has his guts.
Any new helmsman for the EFCC must be as courageous as Magu, but with an impeccable character. He or she must be one who is incorruptible and seen to be so. The new person must also be articulate to be able to effectively lead and represent the agency at local and international for a. And most importantly, the person must be someone who shares the President’s belief that corruption is the bane of Nigeria, and that if we don’t kill it, it would eventually kill the country.
If Magu survives Malami’s grievous allegations as he had survived others in the past, then the Buhari administration would be telling Nigerians and the world that integrity doesn’t matter here. And that would be unfortunate indeed.