My Removal From Office Was Corruption Fighting Back – Magu

A former acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has said his removal from office was due to corruption fighting back.

Magu stated this on Sunday in Abuja at an award ceremony organised in his honour by Northern Female Students Association.

The EFCC boss stated that his exit from the anti-corruption agency could be linked to corrupt persons that were prosecuted during his tenure.

Magu, who was represented by his son, Mohammad-Saeed Ibrahim-Magu, said he is excited that recent events are revealing the truth to Nigerians

“I am a victim of corruption fighting back, but I am happy that recent events are revealing the truth to Nigerians,” he said.

The former EFCC boss thanked the association for conferring on him the award of “Achiever par Excellence’’ and said he was happy to receive the award.

Naija News recalls that Magu was arrested, detained, and suspended as the acting chairman of the anti-graft agency in July 2020, after he appeared before a panel probing allegations of gross misconduct.

The panel, led by Justice Ayo Salami subsequently recommended his removal “for failing to properly account for funds released to the office of the Executive Chairman of EFCC between November 2015 and May 2020”.

Magu Cleared Of Money Laundering Charges

Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court on October 4 exonerated Magu of a false claim that Pastor Emmanuel Omale of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry, and his wife, Deborah laundered N573m for the former EFCC boss.

The money was said to have been used by the cleric to buy a property for Magu in Dubai.

The judgment was delivered on the suit marked: FCT/HC/CV2541/2020 filed by Omale, his wife and the church against the church’s bank.

During the investigation of Magu by the retired Justice Isa Salami-led presidential investigation panel, it was claimed that an investigation by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit revealed that Magu paid N573m into Omale’s church’s account.

Justice Halilu noted in his judgment, however, that the evidence before his court showed that Omale’s bank admitted error in its report to the NFIU, of entries in Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry’s account.

The judge further held that the bank claimed that the purported N573m was wrongly reflected as credit entry into the church’s account by its reporting system, which it recently upgraded.

Justice Halilu noted that the bank admitted the error, which occasioned incalculable damage to the reputation of Pastor Omale, his wife and their church within and outside the country.