Saraki Exposes EFCC Boss Magu

The immediate past President of Nigerian Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki has made a revelation about the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.

Naija News understands that Saraki in his latest revelation said that the boss of the EFCC had visited him in 2016 and begged him to ensure that he was confirmed by the Senate.

Saraki added that he explained to Magu that the Department of State Services (DSS) had written a letter to the Senate accusing the EFCC boss of corruption-related activities and thus recommended that he should not be confirmed.

According to The Punch, the revelation against the EFCC boss is contained in the letter by the former Senate President addressed to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Adamu Abdu-Kafarati.

The letter was in response to a previous one written by the EFCC to the chief judge on May 21, that accused Justice Taiwo Taiwo of being biased against it.

Punch reports that Saraki had filed a fundamental human rights suit before Justice Taiwo who in turn granted an ex parte order restraining the commission and five other agencies of the Federal Government from continuing its investigations of certain corruption allegations against him.

But, in a protest letter signed by Magu, the EFCC had requested the re-assignment of the two ex-governors’ cases and all other ones involving it in the judge’s docket to another judge of the court.

In his own letter, however, Saraki said the EFCC was after him because Magu believed he had a hand in his confirmation.

The letter read in part, “Your Lordship, Mr. Magu after his nomination, came to see me pleading that I should do my best to help him during the screening process. During that meeting, I made it clear that I had no objection to his nomination and revealed to him, in confidence that he needed to go and clear himself with the DSS because the report on him was unfavourable.

“In fact, I bent backwards to let him read the content of the indicting security report submitted on him.

Also, I decided to delay the screening to give him ample time to get the DSS to change the report. As it eventually turned out, he was unable to get the adverse DSS report reversed.”

Saraki said the acting EFCC boss had since been hounding him.

He said the DSS actually sent two reports against Magu and it was the belief of the agency that confirming the nomination of such a man would be inimical to the war against corruption.

In the letter, Saraki alleged, “My Lord, Mr. Magu is after me because he feels that as the President of the 8th Senate, I was responsible for the non-confirmation of his appointment, whereas the reason his appointment was not confirmed is all too familiar: an agency of the executive, which nominated him, the DSS, sent two reports to the Senate in which it categorically stated that Magu failed the integrity test, that his confirmation would shackle the EFCC from effectively tackling corruption in the country and hampering the anti-corruption drive of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.”

He said it was in a bid to ensure transparency that the Senate allowed Magu’s screening to be aired live on television.

Saraki went ahead to urge the CJ to ignore the EFCC’s request even as he added that all the allegations levelled against him were not different from the charges filed before the Code of Conduct Tribunal which were quashed by the Supreme Court.