Magu and the Senate: Which way forward?

It is no longer news that the Senate has again rejected the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after the department of State Security insisted that he, Magu, does not have the integrity to head such a sensitive position. The second rejection happened on Wednesday, March 15th […]

It is no longer news that the Senate has again rejected the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after the department of State Security insisted that he, Magu, does not have the integrity to head such a sensitive position.

The second rejection happened on Wednesday, March 15th when Magu appeared before the Senate for his confirmation hearing at which time Senator Dino Meleye raised the DSS report against Magu dated March, 14. The DSS report had in summary accused Magu of failing integrity test and that his person could constitute a liability to the anti-corruption war of the Federal government. The report sparked up some reactions on the part of some senators who although were earlier satisfied with his response to their questions challenged his credibility for the position. Mr Magu, on his part, challenged the credibility of the DSS who he allegedly sent two different reports of him on the same day. Reports had it that in the last quarter of the year 2016, the DSS had sent in two contradicting reports, one approving Magu’s confirmation and the other asking that he be questioned. The senate has however affirmed that the later they received from the DSS at about 5pm yesterday was the reply of the DSS to them after seeking for security reports on Magu the second time.

It is pertinent to note at this junction that some Senators have one or more cases with the EFCC under Magu’s supervision and one cannot help but wonder if this delay in his confirmation is not as a result of inter agency clash. Is corruption fighting back? Will the presidency resend Magu for screening having done so twice?

A local parlance in Nigeria has it that when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. Nigerians have had enough of the rejections, accusations and counter accusations by the parties involved. Nigerians want progress, enough of the stagnation and repetition. It is time for the needful to be done, a commission as sensitive as the EFCC should have a confirmed chairperson who can settle to work immediately if the aim of the anti corruption war of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration is not to be defeated. If the DSS has a strong case against Magu, then the senate must raise up to his responsibilities of looking into the matter with the intention of ascertaining its credibility. Magu if found guilty should like a gentle man let go and allow another with proven integrity occupy that position.

In the Nigerian political scene, the war of words has from ages constituted itself a clog in the wheel of progress. Suffice is to say that this administration spent months before constituting its cabinet, a stale and dark period that Nigerians will rather not remember. Any delay of any sort should therefore be avoided as the senate president has asserted that Ibrahim Magu cannot continue as the acting chairman of the commission. Nigerians are waiting, the world is waiting and the question on the lips of all and sundry is: “With or without Magu as the chairman of EFCC, are there no men and women of proven integrity in the country that can head the commission?

 

Adegbe Sarah Ibeojo, Lapai, Niger state.