By Igwebuike Nwokoroigwe
If you are of the view that Ibrahim Magu is not the only person that can lead the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), you are not wrong.
Yet, the problem with that position at this moment of a national mass movement against corruption, is that you are perhaps, succumbing to a psychological attack from the Senate. Yes, you are most probably thinking exactly the way an unpatriotic Senate wants you to think.
Make no mistake about it, what is happening in this 8th Senate over Magu is not about asserting the autonomy of the Senate as an independent arm of government. Yes, for there to be a virile democracy, there must be an independent legislature. So when a certain Senator Dino Melaye takes to the floor of the Senate to rehash and dramatize one of the reports of the Department of State Security (DSS) to damage Ibrahim Magu, the EFCC Acting Chairman, his raison detre is not propelled by any national interest; and when his boss, Saraki, drops the gavel to reject Ibrahim Magu’s confirmation, what is at play at best is self-preservation.
This particular senate is perhaps the worst any country can assemble at any particular time in history. It is made up of “corrupt politicians”, particularly ex-governors and some notorious conmen of yesterday who are smart to use political power to legitimize their filthy lucre. For the former governors, their home states where they were overlords have become too hot for them to live in.
And so, the Senate, which ought to be a place for serious hard thinking over national problems has been turned into a sanctuary for former governors to hide away and escape justice. Even in the security of the Senate, many of these senators are so afraid of their own voices that they cannot contribute to any debate on the floor lest they give themselves away. And rightly so, some of these senators, including the President of the Senate, are already being prosecuted for one offence or the other.
Please, spare me that all too common cliché that you are presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Bukola Saraki is standing trial at the Code of Conduct Bureau and his wife has been questioned in the past by the EFCC. Senator Danjuma Goje is standing trial for stealing his state’s money; Senator Godswill Akpabio, the minority leader, is under investigation and so are many others. So, can you see why this Senate will never confirm Magu?
Before we return to our National Assembly, it is proper to situate the context in which Ibrahim Magu has been doubly dealt an unkind hand and premeditated rejections by the Senate, who have found in the presidency some allies and fifth columnists. From the way the Magu matter has been handled, it does appear that there are many in the presidency who for their own selfish interests do not want Magu confirmed as EFCC boss against the wish of their boss, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Some of these presidential staff may have approached Magu for one favour in connection with one or two of their friends and relations in the EFCC net and met a brick wall in an uncompromising Magu. Some of them on their own are being investigated by Magu’s EFCC. While some others are angry simply because EFCC did nothing while the PDP “chopped” for sixteen years and now that it is their turn to “chop” small, a certain Magu and his EFCC, have woken up to become a wet blanket!
Have you bothered to ask yourself this question: why is that on the two occasions that Magu’s name was forwarded to the Senate, the letters were sent by the vice president, Professor Yemi Obasanjo, and on the two occasions, Buhari was out of the country?
Being an astute politician in the Nigerian perspective, Bukola Saraki was quick to notice these coinciding interests with some people in Buhari’s kitchen cabinet and moved in. Together with the DSS, he has formed a formidable alliance against the president’s choice of Magu. So twice has the presidency nominated Magu and twice the Senate relying on the DSS, has rejected the anti-corruption czar. Indeed, the second time around was more dramatic and damaging for the image of the president.
On that day, precisely on March 15, Magu stepped into what should be the hallowed chamber of the Senate for his confirmation hearing after receiving an abrupt invitation the day before. The atmosphere of the hearing was very hostile from the get-go. Senator Shehu Sani, one of the few respected voices in the Senate hinted on the conspiracy against Magu when he warned him to beware of the Ides of March.
Magu is not a fool; he already was aware that majority of the senators under the influence of the Senate President, ex-governors (some of who are sitting with him the Senate) and current state governors had perfected a plan not only to reject Magu, but also to insist that he be stopped from carrying out his job as Acting Chairman of the EFCC. Of course, unknown to Magu and Nigerians, Saraki and Dino Melaye’s senate had reached out once again to their tag team partners in the secret police for another security report and they obliged them by revalidating an earlier report that President Buhari had trashed.
By attempting to revalidate a security report, which the president had acted upon, even if the DSS has no respect for its Commander-in-Chief, does the organisation also not respect administrative procedures? That’s what you get when a self-interested person or organisation blinded by envy, mischief and other negative emotions, pushes public interest to the back seat. I cannot claim to know what problems that the DSS has with Magu but whatever it is, it must be so serious that the DSS is willing to destroy the police officer’s career with a report laced with an unprofessional conclusion. Even then, it is quite unfathomable that an elite agency like the DSS can dare the President by reversing him twice as it did in the Magu matter!
Let those who are being led to believe that Magu is not the only Nigerian who can fight corruption be properly guided. There is something about this Magu guy that scares the Senate and the army of the corrupt. A newspaper had earlier reported that even when the leaders of the National Assembly paid a visit to President Buhari in London while on sick leave, Saraki allegedly expressed his readiness to work with the executive arm with less tension but cleverly chipped in his joker, which is that the president should consider nominating another candidate for the EFCC job who will be more agreeable to the Senate. Of course, according to the report, Buhari pretended not to have heard him.
This is the first time since the inception of the EFCC that Nigerian politicians, corrupt public servants and dubious business men and women are exhibiting genuine fears of stealing public funds. After all, Magu is not the first chairman of the EFCC. The politicians and rogue business people have always found their way around the former leaders of EFCC and thus evaded justice by manipulating the system. They are apparently not making any headway with this Magu of a man.
The way and manner Magu has been digging out millions of stolen dollars hidden safely away is worrying these politicians who perhaps have some heaps of money hidden away for the 2019 elections. The recent conviction of a former governor, a colleague of theirs, is also giving senators some nightmare knowing that something might be cooking for them. As far as this Senate is concerned, Magu is a no-go-area. That is why after rejecting him, they want to take over executive functions of deciding that Magu should hand over immediately at the EFCC.
The good thing though is that Nigerians can see through all the shenanigans of the Senate and are asking President Buhari to stick with Magu as a recent opinion poll conducted by a national daily and the views of civil society groups suggest.
Yet good people like Shehu Sani must be careful about their own reputation and decide whether to continue to take sides with the people even if it means taking a hit like Senator Ali Ndume.
Senator Ndume has been punished for sticking with the Nigerian people. Nigerians are equally taking notes. Ndume has made himself an attractive choice for the Senate Presidency going forward. Yes, when dust of the Ides of March settled, the winners were not those who conspired against their nation, but the Roman people who routed them.
And so shall it be for Nigerians on this Magu matter!
Nwokoroigwe, a public policy analyst wrote from Owerri, Imo State.
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