Just hours after the Senate’s rejection of the confirmation of the Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, as substantive head of the agency, there were indications that Presidency is under pressure.
Petty politics within the kitchen cabinet of the President partially accounted for Magu’s rejection.
Also, senators and some former ministers close to Bukola Saraki under investigation from the PDP were said to be very uncomfortable with Magu, especialy with the way he's exposing them.
Some former governors who are now Senators and are under probe were said to have vowed to make sure they frustrate Magu’s confirmation.
According to The Nation, some highly-placed Nigerians and international bodies have being making representations to the Presidency to re-present Magu as he has done well so far.
It was gathered that the concerned Nigerians and bodies felt Magu’s rejection was designed to “slow down” the pace of the anti-corruption war.
Those described as “corrupt forces” had hatched a plan to “frustrate Magu out of EFCC.”
They were believed to be acting in cahoot with some members of the President’s kitchen cabinet.
One of their plans was to use the Senate to reject Magu’s appointment as EFCC chairman, and that was exactly what they did yesterday.
Their Plan B, said the source is to influence President Muhammadu Buhari to make Magu to revert to EFCC Director of Operations (DOP).
According to a source, such a reversal of role may make Magu to request for a fresh posting back to the police, as it is sort of a demotion.
An insider said, “Curiously, all other security agencies, including the police, the highly-cerebral and respected National Intelligence Agency (NIA) cleared Magu, based on rating of many countries.”
So what security report is the Senate now talking about?
Surviving another plotThe acting EFCC chairman survived a second plot to rope him into the travails of Air Commodore Mohammed Umar.
Another source said: “Following security report that Magu’s security cannot be guaranteed in Karu, a suburb of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) was mandated to look for accommodation for him.
“Magu did not want to leave his rustic flat in Karu but the Chief of Staff mounted pressure on him to leave the place. Magu did not know how an official residence was got for him. But the DSS allegedly traced Air Cmdr. Umar as having to do with how the house was secured as a rented apartment.
“The DSS was said to have discovered that the duplex, belonging to the late Prof. Dora Akunyili, was allegedly furnished with N40 million. The amount was considered outrageous.
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But Magu did not know how the furniture in the house were bought. Everything in the house was bought by civil servants in charge of accommodation in FCTA. Yet, he almost paid dearly for it
“The first camp in the kitchen cabinet is also latching on it.
“The no love lust between the EFCC chairman and the DG of DSS led to different operations on corrupt judges by the two agencies. Even when the DSS insisted before the National Assembly that its sting operations were legal, the EFCC presented a position to the contrary.”
The gang-up in the SenateSince the rejection of Magu, all Senators contacted have been hiding under the alibi of security report by the DSS.
But The Nation learnt that PDP senators and few in the APC did not want Magu confirmed. And the senators were allegedly backed by some of Buhari's ministers under investigation by Magu.
