That spoken truth always come from the mouth of a drunkard or a lunatic is a common Yoruba adage derived from the saying, õtó òrò enu òmùtí àbí asíwèrè ni ãotigbó. Thus, no matter what views one may have about the mental traits of the immediate past President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, his assertion that any country ruled by a Blackman is a shithole remains true as exemplified by today's Nigeria. According to Michael Cohen, Trump demanded, rhetorically, to know from him, "Tell me one country run by a black person that isn't a shithole. They are all complete fucking toilets. (p.107, DISLOYAL, A MEMOIR by Michael Cohen, Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump)." Nigeria has often been touted as giant of Africa and a pride for the Black race even though rulers of Nigeria, past and present, have conjured the country into a giant with clay legs and a disgrace to the entire Black race. From what Nigerians are experiencing today, who can dispute the fact that Nigerian rulers have turned the country into a big fucking toilet as asserted by Donald J. Trump? We just have to realise that Nigeria contains abundance of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) created, designed and manned by educated Nigerians whose assigned duties are to solve both known, real and anticipated socio-economic and industrial problems of the Nigeria. Nevertheless, recognition of our problems in Nigeria have always defined a dilemma rather than lead to solutions. Recently, the Nigerian rulers claimed to have recognized the problem of herders wandering around the landscape of Nigeria to look for forage to feed their cattle in free forests as they have done since antiquities. But, instead of the recognition of the herder's problem leading to a national solution, Nigerians are offered ethno-religious dichotomies by the Federal and States' governments. In the last five years, I have defended President Muhammadu Buhari against personal attacks and pointed out why it had been impossible for him to fulfil his good intentions for the country. But now, I have to review my opinion of Buhari after observing his glaring political inconsistencies, and suspecting his capacity to think issues through as well as his inability to formulate and stand by inspiring principles and values. From close examination of events, it appears as if Buhari has abandoned governance to the unelected (selected) and the consequences to the nation and Nigerians are extremely grave as we are now witnessing throughout the whole country. I will come back later to the herdsmen/farmers problems, but let me first shed light into what seems to indicate that Buhari is not in control of the government that he is supposed to be leading.
On 9 November 2015, President Mohammadu Buhari appointed Ibrahim Magu as Acting Chairman of the EFCC to replace Ibrahim Lamorde. In July 2016, when Buhari was on medical vacation, the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, forwarded the name of Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC. On 3 October 2016, the Department of State Services (DSS) submitted two different reports signed by an official named, Folashade Ojo-Bello, on behalf of the Director General, Lawan Daura. One of the letters was addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, and the other to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang. The two letters were sent to the then President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki. The report sent to Ita Enang was dated 25 August 2016, while the one to the Clerk of National Assembly was dated 21 September 2016. To Ita Enang, the DSS wrote that Ibrahim Magu should be cleared for EFCC's Chair in view of his performance since assumption of office in acting capacity (9 November 2015). The DSS report to the National Assembly, dated 21 September 2016, advised against confirming Mr. Ibrahim Magu as EFCC 's Chairman, claiming that he has failed integrity test and that he would constitute a liability to the anti-corruption stand of the administration of Buhari. The Senate chose to act on the DSS letter of 21 September 2016 while ignoring that of 25 August 2016 sent to it through Senator Ita Enang. Thus, on 15 December 2016, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, said that the Senate's refusal to confirm Ibrahim Magu as EFCC's Chairman was based on DSS security report.
Reacting to the refusal of the Senate to confirm Magu as Chairman of the EFCC, the second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at that time, Mr. Monday Ubani said, "I am not surprised that he (Magu) was not confirmed because of the level of seriousness he has exhibited in the fight against corruption. There is an elite gang up against his confirmation, and it cuts across all (political) parties." In his reaction to the rejection of Magu as EFCC's Chairman, the late Dr Junaid Mohammed said, "The rejection shows that the Senate is not serious and the cabal around President Buhari is also working closely with the Senate to reject Magu." The DSS budget is passed as part of the Presidency. In fact, and in law, the DSS is under the President. If the DSS has security reasons against any of the President's appointees or nominees, it (DSS) should place its security objections before the President for appraisal, approval or rejection. The decision of the President as the boss of the DSS should be the final. Obviously, the so-called security report on Magu sent direct to the senate by the DSS was intended to undermine the authority of President Buhari and his deputy, Osinbajo. If not, why did the DSS write two different reports with different conclusions within a month on the same person, Magu? If Magu has performed well since he started acting as Chairman of EFCC according to the DSS report of 25 August 2016, when did the DSS perform its integrity test which revealed Magu to be a potential liability to the anti-corruption stand of Buhari's administration?
After the Senate had refused to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of EFCC, President Buhari asked the Attorney General of the Federation and Federal Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the Vice President to investigate the DSS allegations against Magu. The investigation of Malami and Osinbajo absolved Magu of any culpability, morally or legally. Based on their report, President Muhammadu Buhari renominated Ibrahim Magu, for confirmation as Chairman of EFCC, to the Senate on 23 January 2017. On resubmitting Magu's name to the Senate, Buhari wrote, among other things, "Distinguished Senators, in view of my conviction that there is need to maintain the momentum on anti-graft, I urge the Senate to reconsider Ibrahim Magu as substantive EFCC chairman." The DSS, again, wrote to the Senate to counter Buhari's nominee for the Chair of EFCC, claiming that he, Magu, had failed integrity test and would eventually constitute a liability to the anticorruption stand of the government. On 15 March 2017, the Senate refused to confirm Ibrahim Magu as substantive Chairman of the EFCC for the second time. One of the arrowheads in the Senate that rejected Magu's confirmation, Senator Dino Melaye, read copiously from page five, paragraph 14 of the DSS report on Magu thus, "In the light of foregoing, Magu has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption fight of the present administration." What laid hidden in the DSS's phrase, 'in the light of foregoing,' was not made known to the Nigerian public. The question which should follow is : what did the integrity test which the DSS claimed Magu had failed contain?
Let's check the facts. Ibrahim Magu was an EFCC Superintendent of Police in 2008 when he, along with Ibrahim Lamorde and others that served under Nuhu Ribadu's Chairmanship of the EFCC, was suspended by the new Chairman Farida Waziri. Magu was accused of keeping official EFCC files at home and failed to handover to his successor. However, he was in Lagos handing over to the new officer there when his home in Abuja was ransacked by the new EFCC boss. He was queried by the then Inspector General of the Police, Mike Okiro, on why he had some official documents at home and Magu replied on 25 August 2008. Satisfied with Magu's explanations, IGB Mike Okoro exonerated Magu, reabsorbed him into the Police Force and posted him to Special Fraud Unit where, shortly afterwards, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police. That the DSS, in 2016/2017, took the suspension of Magu from EFCC by Farida Waziri in 2008 as a failure of integrity test must be a mystery since the reason for his suspension proved to be false in the investigation conducted by the then Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, who did not only reinstate Magu to the Police Force and posted him to the Police's Special Fraud Unit but also had him promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police.
In November 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan sacked Farida Waziri as Chairman of the EFCC and replaced her with Ibrahim Lamorde, first as Acting Chairman, 23 November 2011, but confirmed as the substantive Chairman on January 15, 2012 by the Senate, on the recommendation of President Jonathan. After confirmation as the substantive Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, recalled some of his colleagues, including Ibrahim Magu, that served under Nuhu Ribadu who were removed under Farida Waziri. Magu was appointed acting chairman by Buhari on 9 November 2015, after Ibrahim Lamorde was removed. Ibrahim Magu, just like Nuhu Ribadu, took his job very serious, but he has to contend with the obstruction of the Attorney General and Federal Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. Since 2007 and hitherto, Nigeria has been blessed with Attorney Generals and Federal Ministers of Justice who are beset with the marrows of Kleptophilia (love of theft) and biastophiliac (irrational attraction to criminals). The undoing of Ibrahim Magu is his refusal to be cowed by Abubakar Malami into engaging in selective investigations and persecutions of those who have been ruining Nigeria financially and economically. (To be continued)
S. Kadiri
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