Ibrahim Magu, the now suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been under investigation since 2018.
This, according to a presidential source, accounted for why President Muhammadu Buhari refused to re-present him for confirmation.
Mr Magu, appointed in 2015 and rejected twice by the 8th Nigerian Senate for confirmation, has been in acting capacity since then until his current travails. The refusal by the legislative chamber to confirm him substantive head of the anti-graft agency was hinged on a report sent to it by the State Security Services (SSS) self-styled Department of State Services (DSS), indicting him of not having the required integrity to lead the war against corruption.
But political analysts at the time cited the differences between the executive arm of government led by the president and the legislature headed by then Senate President, Bukola Saraki, as reason for the refusal.
Mr Buhari who played a vital role in ensuring his party’s candidate for the present 9th Senate – often referred to as ‘rubber stamp’ by critics – clinched the position, has not re-sent the name of Magu for confirmation since the formation of the present Senate.
The president, since he began his second term in office, has sent names for confirmation and all scaled through without rejection.
TheCable – an online news medium – quoting a presidential source said the president refused to re-present the embattled anti-graft czar for confirmation because the latter was under probe on the orders of the president.
“If Magu was a man who can read the signs, he should have asked himself why the president did not re-present his name to the senate for confirmation as EFCC chairman since the new national assembly was inaugurated,” one of the sources said.
The source added that when Magu got to know that he might not be re-presented for confirmation and attempted going closer to his principal, it was already late.
“He came to the mosque at the presidential villa to say Jumaat prayers along with the president on June 5, but the president was not very comfortable with it,” the source continued.
“President Buhari prefers to pray with his family and personal aides, so he was not happy when Magu wangled his way to the mosque after the partial lifting of lockdown. An instruction was then issued that he should not be allowed to come to the mosque,” it added.
Magu has been detained for over a week on the orders of the presidential panel probing his activities since he took over the affairs of the EFCC.
