The State Security Service has insisted the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, is not fit to head the anti-graft agency because he lacks integrity, a lawmaker has said.
The SSS said this to the Senate in a fresh report dispatched Tuesday evening.
The content of the report was raised by a senator, Dino Melaye, after it had appeared Mr. Magu would scale the Senate hurdle, after answering a wide range of questions at his confirmation hearing still underway.
“In the light of the foregoing, Magu has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption stand of the current government,” the SSS report, read by Mr. Melaye, stated.
An earlier report by the SSS had prevented the Senate from confirming Mr. Magu as EFCC chairman earlier.
How Senate Refused To Confirm Magu
by Hassan Adebayo,
The Senate has again rejected the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as the substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, after the State Security Service reaffirmed its position that the nominee lacks integrity to lead the country’s anti-corruption agency.
Mr. Magu was rejected on Wednesday, after appearance before the Senate for his confirmation hearing during which Dino Melaye raised the SSS report dated March 14.
“In the light of the foregoing, Magu has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption stand of the current government,” the SSS report, read by Mr. Melaye, stated.
Although Mr. Magu had answered to the satisfaction of lawmakers earlier questions he was asked, senators challenged his suitability given the report against him by the SSS.
Mr. Magu questioned the credibility of the SSS which he said dispatched two reports on him with varying contents same day.
“What do you say about credibility of that agency?” he queried.
PREMIUM TIMES had in December reported how the SSS had earlier submitted two contradictory reports, one approving Mr. Magu’s confirmation and the other asking he be rejected.
The Senate had then rejected Mr. Magu’s confirmation based on the latter report.
President Muhammadu Buhari in January resubmitted Mr. Magu’s name to the Senate for confirmation as EFCC chief.
On Wednesday, Mr. Magu said he was never invited by the SSS to defend the allegations against him.
“There was no fair hearing,” he said.
Facing Mr. Melaye, he said, “We were fighting corruption together before you came to this house and turned against us.”
Mr. Melaye raised the SSS report after Mr. Magu had answered wide range of questions and it appeared he was going to scale the Senate hurdle.
As if the Senate was staging a drama already well-rehearsed, the body then moved away from seemingly soft questions, leaving the ground for questions relating to the SSS report.
Barnabas Gemade and Abiodun Olujimi, among others, asked Mr. Magu to defend his suitability and explain why he should be confirmed after “all these allegations”.
The fresh report was basically reaffirmation of the earlier one, containing same allegations that bother on the nominee’s residence, relationship with Mohammed Umar and past record as head of the EFCC’s economic governance unit.