Saraki accuses suspended EFCC boss of waging personal war against him
Ibrahim Magu, suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has said that he is not contemplating any legal action against the Nigerian Government, reports Sahara Reporters.
Magu was arrested in Abuja last Monday and taken to the State House in Aso Villa to appear before the Justice Ayo Salami-led Presidential Investigative Committee. He was released 10 days after his arrest.
President Muhammadu Buhari set up the committee to investigate alleged mismanagement of recovered assets by the EFCC between May 2015 and May 2020.
Wahab Shittu, lawyer to Magu, said, “Our client appreciates the panel for ordering his release from custody even if the panel indicated it never ordered his detention at anytime in the first place. Our client appreciates the efforts of the Buhari administration in its commitment to the war against corruption including the ongoing probe being undertaken by the Hon justice Salami investigation panel.
“Our client undertakes to cooperate fully with the Salami panel by making available to the panel formal response to the allegations against him in the social media platforms and newspapers since he has not been formally served with copies of the allegations against him by the panel. Our client strongly appeals for a fair-minded probe proceedings against him including an open mind by the Nigerian people until the probe process is completed.
“Our client acknowledges the widely respected integrity of Mr President and chairman of the probe panel, Hon Justice Ayo salami (Rtd), and is hopeful that the truth in his case will ultimately prevail. Our client urges Nigerians and the international community to continue to support the current administration’s quest to rid our society against graft.
“Our client takes his current travail with philosophical calmness without bitterness in the belief that no one is above the law, that no matter how big anyone is, the law is bigger. Our client pleads that no publication be attributed to him without clearance from him directly or his counsel on record.
“Our client will never be a party to any derogatory comments against this administration which he considers himself to be an integral part of, and the President he respects so much.
“Our client is not contemplating any legal proceedings against this government that has given him an opportunity to serve and for which he retains uncommon respect and admiration mainly because of the commitment of the administration to the anti-corruption crusade which he shares with passion.”
Meanwhile, former Senate President, Bukola Saraki on Friday alleged that Magu took his non-confirmation by the eighth Senate personal and decided to go after him.
The Eighth Senate had in 2016 rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination of Magu as substantive chairman of the EFCC over “damning security report by the Department of State Service (DSS).”
Saraki, who disclosed this in a statement, said the EFCC under Magu’s leadership put him through many legal challenges.
The former Kwara State governor said he had endured and defeated one false allegation and malicious litigation after another, in an ill-motivated persecution, intimidation and harassment, through which some vested interests sought to damage his name and label him with charges of corruption.
The ex-Senate president was reacting to a court ruling which ordered the EFCC to return his two houses to him.
Justice Rilwan Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Lagos, had on Thursday dismissed the commission’s application for permanent forfeiture of the two houses in Ilorin, Kwara State, to the Federal Government.
The judge said there was no sufficient basis in the commission’s application for the permanent forfeiture of the houses to the federal government.
Saraki said: “I know that the Senate under my leadership only followed the due and normal procedure during the confirmation process and we never executed any personal agenda against Magu. The records of the Senate are there for the perusal of all Nigerians interested in the truth.
“I hope that with the outcome of today’s case, EFCC learns that a serious issue like the fight against corruption should not be reduced to a forum-shopping means to execute a personal vendetta or prosecute a parochial agenda.
“With the decision of the court, it is my expectation that the EFCC, which has played significant roles in the various court cases against me from the CCT (Code of Conduct Tribunal) to the Supreme Court and back at the Federal High Court with the consequent media trial and malicious campaigns will now leave me alone to live my life, and enjoy my unfettered rights to freedom of thought, expression, association, occupation, and dignity, as a private citizen and focus on serious issues of national development.”
