EFCC And Albatross Of Corruption: The Truth About Magu’s Arrest

Our Nigeria is a lot like Indian rubber. A little causes it to swell, while a lot will not burst it.

This make-up is what makes Nigeria intriguing, and keeps the outside world on tenterhooks or in suspense. Our seeming penchant for absurdity  leaves people in sober climes gasping for breathe.

A mutual friend of ours, who grew up outside our shores, has derisive catchphrase in capturing the reality and essence — “only in Nigeria”. We chorus it almost in unison during our rendezvous and animated sessions. It can only happen in Nigeria, that a politician who has been sentenced to a term in prison, will stand for election and win. Only in Nigeria will a politician who was impeached return to office, in a blaze of glory.

It’s only in Nigeria that a man that’s appointed lead the onslaught against corruption in the country and bring those who have pillage the country’s resources and commonwealth is himself a crook whose hands are deep in the proverbial cookie jar.

Many people were surprised but not altogether shocked by the news of the arrest of Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) acting chairman Ibrahim Magu.

EkoHotBlog had reported how the acting chairman of Magu was apprehended by a combined team of Department of State Services (DSS) operatives and officers from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) on Monday and then taken before a panel for interrogation.

This happened a few days after Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), accused the anti-graft czar of corruption and malfeasance.

Following his arrest, the anti-graft agency, embarked on damage control and an attempt to shore up its sullied image. It issued a glib statement on its social media handle claiming its chairman was not arrested and that he only honoured an invitation by the DSS to make clarification about some gray issues.

Despite the denial of the obvious and an attempt at railroading the media into changing the narrative by the agency, EkoHotBlog stands by its initial report of the anti-corruption agency czar arrest.

The feeler we are getting now is the the EFCC helmsman passed the night in DSS custody as the secret police grilled him all night.

Dwelling on the veracity or truism of what occurred yesterday should not even happened in the first place, because it is visible to the blind and audible to deaf. But the attempt by the agency to change the narrative and explain away what was an aberration, an indictment on the agency on how low it has sunk, is what informed this rebuttal.

In order drive home our position on this polemical issue, it is highly imperative to chronicle the litany of Magu’s misdeeds and impropriety, ones that should not be attributed to a man appointed to head a position that requires a lot of self discipline and self-restraint. Magu’s fall – even though delayed – preceded him. He has walked a tightrope all through his professional careers and had incur way too much liabilities before he became the EFCC helmsman that make nailing him very easy for his traducers.

In August 2008, when Farida Waziri was the commission’s chairman, Magu was alleged to be in the possession of some classified and confidential documents which were not supposed to be at his disposal. These documents were allegedly discovered at his residence. He was redeployed to the police after days of detention, and was suspended from the force afterwards.

Also, in December 2010, the Police Service Commission (PSC) was said to have found him guilty of action prejudicial to state security – withholding of EFCC files, sabotage, unauthorised removal of EFCC files and acts unbecoming of a police officer — and slammed severe reprimand on him as punishment.

Despite these alleged infractions, Magu was reabsorbed into the anti-graft agency when Ibrahim Lamorde was the EFCC chairman, who also recommended him for the top job. All these allegations were foregrounded in the DSS report of 2016.

Soon after he became acting EFCC chairman, Magu busied himself with incurring more ‘’karmic debts’’. He was said to have been embroiled in the blackmail of suspects and was frolicking with the ‘’so-called looters’’. He was also alleged to be living outside the remit of his means.

The DSS’ vignette captures it thus: “Magu is currently occupying a residence rented for N40m at N20m per annum. This accommodation was not paid [for] from the commission’s finances, but by one Umar Mohammed, air commodore retired, a questionable businessman who has subsequently been arrested by the secret service.

“For the furnishing of the residence, Magu enlisted the Federal Capital Development Authority to award a contract to Africa Energy, a company owned by the same Mohammed, to furnish the residence at the cost of N43m.”

Due to the gravity of these frightening allegations, the senate in 2016, refised to confirm the appointment of Magu as EFCC chairman. But despite the senate’s pushback, President Muhammadu Buhari re-nominated him. The reaction to the decision of the senate at the time was that some corrupt elements in the national assembly were trying to derail the anti-corruption efforts of the president.

The death knell finally sounded on Magu when Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), asked the president to sack him over some “weighty” allegations, including the diversion of recovered loot. In addition to allegedly re-looting the recovered loot, Malami accused the acting EFCC chairman of insubordination and misconduct.

Before his ‘’arrest’’ on Monday, the EFCC chief had travelled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates without the authorisation of Buhari during the COVID-19 lockdown – a contravention of the president’s order on measures instituted to curb the spread of the disease. And when he was questioned, he said he went for an investigation.

It is reassuring that the president has elected to stop dilly-dallying on Magu. He has set up a presidential panel to look into these allegations, and perhaps, to put Magu out of his misery. The panel sat at the presidential villa where the acting EFCC chairman was interrogated yesterday.

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