SAN FRANCISCO, June 19, (THEWILL) – The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has recommend to President Muhammadu Buhari the sacking of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.
THISDAY reports that Malami, in a memorandum to the president, anchored his recommendation on several grounds “raging from diversion of recovered loot to insubordination and misconduct”and included a short list of three candidates for consideration to replace Magu.
But Magu is fighting back and his supporters within the Presidency say ”removing Magu at this time when he has given muscle to Buhari’s anti-corruption fight would be a mistake.”
However, given the weight of Malami’s allegations against Magu, the president may be inclined to set up a probe panel that will look into the veracity of the allegations and make necessary recommendations.
One of the sources told select journalists that Malami claimed most of the recovered assets by the EFCC were allegedly sold by Magu without the knowledge of anyone.
“I can authoritatively tell you that though Magu has survived previous plots to remove him, the AGF’s legal opinion remains the deadliest plot to get Magu out of the EFCC as AGF’s letter to the president contained 22 weighty allegations that require Buhari’s decision on whether or not to send Magu’s name to the Senate for confirmation or replace him.
“This is because the office of the AGF is the supervising ministry of the EFCC and so his legal opinion cannot be treated with levity.
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“For example, Malami alleged accounting gaps or discrepancies of figures concerning the recovered assets, claiming that Magu was not transparent enough in the management of recovered assets.
“Malami also accused Magu of blatant display of arrogance and insubordination to him as supervising minister of the EFCC. But it is unfortunate that this claim is at variance with the public auction of assets by the EFCC,“ the source added.
It will be recalled that many efforts have been made in the past to make the President drop Magu since his appointment as EFCC acting chairman on November 9, 2015 to no avail.
THEWILL had exclusively revealed that President Buhari is on the verge of appointing a replacement for Magu.
Sources told THEWILL that the President has vetted a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Sani Usman and Diseye Nsirim-Poweigba, a former police commissioner in Niger State, who retired from service in 2014 for the position.
Usman, a native of Bauchi State, represented the North East and held the position of DIG in charge of Training and Development before his forced retirement in 2019, following the appointment of then AIG Muhammed Abubakar Adamu, his junior, as Inspector-General of Police.
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