Magu blocked from seeing Buhari after failed confirmation
Reliable sources told Sunday PUNCH on Saturday that Magu had made
spirited efforts to see President Buhari in the aftermath of the
Senate’s refusal to confirm his appointment. The
Senate, on Thursday, had based its decision on a security report by the
Department of State Service which accused Magu of abuse of office and
corruption.
The report by the DSS says Magu’s antecedents and his conduct after his
appointment as the anti-corruption czar, made him ineligible to hold the
office in full capacity.
The DSS report concludes,
“Magu has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption drive of the present administration.”
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that the embattled EFCC chairman, who is said to
be at loggerheads with some members of Buhari’s kitchen cabinet, tried
to see the President on Saturday night but his efforts were futile.
Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, handles the President’s appointments and determines, in most cases, who gets to see him.
There have been reports that Magu is involved in a power struggle with
the Director General of the DSS, Mr. Lawal Daura, and some top aides of
the President, who are said to be against his confirmation. The acting
EFCC chairman is said to be an ally of the National Security Adviser,
Gen. Babagana Monguno.
Magu was conspicuously absent at the Saturday’s wedding of the
President’s daughter, Zahra, to Ahmed Indimi. However, other heads of
security agencies including the former chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu
Ribadu, were present at the lunch which held inside the old Banquet Hall
of the Presidential Villa.
Multiple sources in the presidency confirmed to our correspondent on
Saturday that Magu was sighted in the Presidential Villa around 6.30pm
on Friday.
While he failed to see the President, Magu attended the Asset Recovery
team meeting which holds weekly at the Presidency. The meeting had Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo ; the Attorney General of the Federation,
Abubakar Malami; the Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, and
others, in attendance.
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that Magu has written a letter stating his side of
the story over the allegations levelled against him by the DSS. A
source, who said the letter would be delivered to the President during
the week, added that Magu defended himself and also detailed his running
battles with some of the president’s closest aides.
Magu, it was gathered, had wanted to issue a statement through the
agency to respond to the DSS allegations, but later had a change of
mind.
It was gathered that the confirmation crisis had polarised the President’s cabinet.
A source in government told one of our correspondents that some
ministers who are in support of Magu visited the President of the
Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the Senate session on Thursday. The
source said the ministers tried to prevail on Saraki to ensure that Magu
was confirmed. Saraki was said to have told them that he did not have
the sole power to confirm the EFCC’s acting chairman.
Some ministers who are however staunchly against Magu reportedly reached
out to the senate president and urged him not to make the mistake of
ensuring Magu’s confirmation or it could come back to haunt him.
He can only be reconsidered if DSS clears him — Senators
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics Privileges and
Public Petitions, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has said that the senate may
review its decision on the acting chairman if he clears himself of the
allegation contained in the security report on him.
Anyanwu, who spoke on Saturday, said, “The presidency has the right to present him for screening again if it is satisfied that the allegations against him in the report are baseless. The senate will do its constitutional duty by adequately investigating petitions against any nominee so that a wrong person will not be appointed.
“Mr. Magu should clear himself of the allegations leveled against him otherwise senate will refuse to screen him if Mr. President should forward his name again,” he said.
