President Buhari resubmitted the name of Magu to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive Chairman of EFCC in January 2017 and on Wednesday, 15 March 2017, the Senate refused to confirm Magu because the DSS, once more in writing to the Senate, had asserted that Magu had failed the integrity test of the DSS with conclusion that he would constitute a liability to the anti-corruption stand of Buhari's government. How dared the DSS humiliate President Buhari over his nomination of Magu as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC? The DSS budget is passed as a part of the Presidency. In fact, and in law, the DSS is under the President and the DSS Director General is an appointee of the President who can be sacked at the President's will. The behaviour of Lawal Daura led DSS in respect of Buhari's nominee for the substantive Chairman of the EFCC created the impression that Buhari was not in total control of his government. The so-called allegations in the report of the DSS against Magu was, on the directive of President Buhari, investigated by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo whereby Magu was absolved of any culpability, morally or legally. Based on Malami's and Osinbajo's report Buhari renominated Magu for confirmation by the Senate as the substantive Chairman of the EFCC. Yet, the DSS subverted the President's nomination by bypassing the President to ask the Senate not to confirm Magu. If the DSS had anything against any nominee of the President, they should discuss that with the President whose decision should be final. However, the nation found itself in an abnormal situation where the tail was wagging the head whereby, Lawal Daura, the DG of DSS, an appointee of the President, turned out bossing President Buhari!!! The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, tried to play down the insult of Lawal Daura led DSS on President Buhari when he said, "He (President Buhari) has not interfered with what the DSS want to say. President Buhari merely studied the SSS (also called DSS) report and reviewed Mr. Magu's response which he (Buhari) found satisfactory. The President looked at what Magu said and what the DSS wrote, and he (the President) said, 'I am satisfied with what Magu said' (Online Premium-Times Ng., April 12, 2017)."
On May 7, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari departed Nigeria for the United Kingdom on medical vacation, from where he did not return until August 19, 2017. During his absence, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, was constitutionally acting as the President. Then on July 5, 2017, the Acting President said that Magu's name was going to be resubmitted to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive Chairman of EFCC and should he be rejected, Magu might have to remain in acting capacity throughout the tenure of Buhari's presidency. That same day, after the Federal Executive Council meeting (FEC), the Attorney-General and Federal Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, told the press that the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, was on his own in respect of Magu. https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/235975-magu-osinbajo-is-on-his-own-attorney-general-malami-says.html
| | "…at no point ever did the Federal Executive Council sit down to arrive at the decision (to keep Mr. Magu)…" www.premiumtimesng.com |
In civilized clime, the Attorney General and Federal Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had the right to express his opposition freely to any proposal by the President or anybody acting in that capacity at the Federal Executive Council meeting. However, when minister Malami went out to publicly express his opposition and therewith challenged the Acting President's decision on Magu, he should either resign as Attorney General and Federal Minister of Justice or be sacked from office immediately. Yemi Osinbajo is not only a Senior Advocate of Nigeria but was actually a professor of Law before he became Vice President. Interestingly, Yemi Osinbajo was elected a Vice President on a joint ticket with Muhammadu Buhari while Abubakar Malami was only an appointed Minister by the substantive President. Thus, Malami is holding his office at the grace of the President or whosoever is acting in that capacity. But Nigeria is up-side-down and, under President Buhari, the unelected are the ones ruling over the elected. Nigeria's up-side-down phenomenon was revealed on July 7, 2017, when the online Nigerian Vanguard carried the following headline, "A TERRIBLE WAR IS RANGING BETWEEN THE CABAL AND OSINBAJO." The cabal referred to, as of that time, contained the Chief of Staff to the President - Abba Kyari (the head of the cabal); Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice - Abubakar Malami; Director General of DSS - Lawal Daura; and Minister of Interior - Abdulrahman Dambazu. All of them were appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari. Why were the cabals against Ibrahim Magu, the Acting Chairman of the EFCC?
Ibrahim Magu saw himself first and foremost as a Nigerian not as a Northerner or ethnic Hausa/Fulani, a very rare quality in Nigerian public officials. Therefore, Magu being extremely patriotic in office was determined to help Buhari accomplish his pledge to Nigerians, during the election campaigns of 2015, wipe out corruption in Nigeria and incarcerate robbers of the country's public funds. Appearing in the online Premium Times, Nigeria, of February 16, 2016, Ibrahim Magu lamented, "One of the big challenges we have in the effective prosecution of the war on corruption is that of very senior lawyers who Nigeria has been very kind to; they who went to good schools here when Nigeria was good, many of them on government scholarship; they who Nigeria has given so much opportunity.
When we have corruption cases, cases of people who have stolen food from the mouths of our children; when we have cases of people who have stolen money meant to build hospitals and buy drugs; when we have cases of people who have stolen all the money meant to buy guns for our soldiers to fight Boko Haram; when we have all these cases of wicked people who have stolen Nigeria's money; they run to these same lawyers, give them part of the stolen money and mobilise them to fight us (EFCC), to delay us in court and to deny Nigerians of Justice. These are the people who do not want justice for the common man." When Magu was appointed Acting Chairman of EFCC in November 2015, not less than 100 cases of treasury lootings amounting to billions of dollars were pending in the courts. Most of the cases had been filed since 2007, but judges and lawyers connived with looters to subvert justice. Looters parted away with some of their loots to their lawyers, court registrars and Judges, causing their cases to be adjourned sine die after the looters had been granted bails. In addition, not less than 20 ex-Governors who were on trial for looting the treasury of their states had become Senators, empowered to confirm Magu as the substantive Chairman. Like predatory sharks smelling blood, the cabals in the presidency began to encircle Magu for their sumptuous meal. The cabals, regarding being in government as a place where friends and cronies must share the resources of the country among themselves, decided to collaborate with those who had impoverished Nigerians by converting and diverting funds for national development into their private bank accounts.
As I stated in part 1 of this essay, the 8th Senate Assembly was inaugurated on forged Senate rule by the old and new-PDP represented by Ike Ekweremadu and Bukola Saraki respectively. Through forgery of Senate's rules, Saraki became the President of the Senate while Ekweremadu became deputy Senate President. Normally, it was the duty of Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to prosecute Saraki and Ekweremadu for forging the Senate rules deployed to install themselves and others, as principal officers of the Senate. But the unwritten and known agreement was that if Saraki could see to it that Magu was not confirmed as the Chairman of EFCC, according to the wish of the cabals, Malami would reciprocate by not prosecuting Saraki and Ekweremadu diligently (implying to pretend prosecuting) for the forgery of the Senate's rule. The Senate on the other hand was not eager to confirm Magu as substantive Chairman of the EFCC because many of its members were either being prosecuted for corruption by the EFCC or under investigations for corruption. Magu was emboldened to perform his duty without fear because he was aware that the worst that could happen to him was to go back to the Police Special Fraud Unit where he was Assistant Commissioner of Police before coming to the EFCC and being appointed by Buhari as Acting Chairman. The cabals on the other hand were appointees of Buhari and if they were fired, they had no official positions to retreat to like Magu. Between the cabals and the Senate (including the House of Reps) it was a question of scratch my back and I will scratch your back relation as far as corruption in Nigeria is concerned. Before going further, a clear understanding of how the cabals began to work at cross purposes against Buhari's and Magu's anti-corruption stance ought to be highlighted.
At the inception of Buhari's Presidency the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, was reported to have counselled President Buhari that his promise to Nigerians, while canvassing to be elected in 2015, that he would make his declaration of assets public to Nigerians and compel all officials under his regime to do the same was legally impossible. Buhari would be violating the Code of Conduct Bureau Act, 2004, which explicitly stated that asset declaration could be made public if the National Assembly (Senate) set out how it should be done, Malami told Buhari. As at that time, and even as of date, the Senate is yet to pass a resolution setting out how asset declarations should be made public. Buhari, who wanted to be seen as a democrat obeying the rule of law and did not want to be dubbed a dictator succumbed to the advice of his Attorney General. On the other hand, ambitious Magu was reported to have sent EFCC officials to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to obtain copies of Asset Declarations made by the cabals but the EFCC officials were asked to come back the following day to collect them. Immediately the EFCC officials left CCB, it was reported, that the CBB officials contacted the cabals and offered them the opportunity to re-declare their assets. Thenceforth, relation between the cabals and Magu was damaged beyond repairs. The advantage the cabals had over Magu was that they had the ears of Buhari permanently glued to their mouths and could whisper whatever they wanted into them. Thus, while the cabals were shouting death to corruption into the ears of Buhari, they were simultaneously in alliance with the National Assembly and the Judiciary to keep corruption alive. (To be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment