EFCC in Danger If Magu Remains in Office After Senate Rejected Him

It has been revealed that following the rejection of Magu as EFCC Chairman, his continued stay in office might jeopardize the work of the agency.

A leading activist lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has said the operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission faces serious problems if the rejected acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu remains in office.

Adegboruwa said Magu cannot act as the acting Chairman of the EFCC following his rejection as the anti-graft agency is too sensitive to be headed by a rejected candidate.

In a statement he released on Friday, the Lagos lawyer explained that the December 14 rejection of Magu by the Senatemeans that the operations of the EFCC after the Upper Chamber’s decision will be deemed as illegal as a result, the EFCC cannot arrest Nigerians when its Chairman has outstanding corruption cases to answer.

He warned that if the acting EFCC chairman continues in office as acting chairman after Thursday’s development, it would give the impression that Magu has been appointed to do a hatchet job, stressing that his continued stay in office after the rejection would make the EFCC unable to institute court cases or arrest any citizen.

He reasoned that it would be against laid down rules for Magu to go ahead to arrest corrupt individuals when he has cases to answer.

According to him, the reason that the Hon Ofili Ajumogobia is in court facing trial is for her inability to account for her lavish possessions. If an ex-policeman is living in a luxurious N40m apartment and flying First class, he should be put on trial in the dock, as he has done to others to explain how such lavish lifestyle came about.

We cannot have such weighty allegations of corrupt enrichment hanging over a man who is to investigate and prosecute others, the lawyer noted.

The Senate had on Thursday refused to confirm Magu as EFCC Chairman after a security report revealed that he lived a lavish lifestylewith money coming from questionable sources.