The “arrest” of Ibrahim Magu, acting EFCC chairman has been long coming. Magu’s fall – even though delayed – preceded him. He walked on molten magma. He had chalked up lots of professional liabilities before he became the EFCC czar.
In August 2008, when Farida Waziri was the commission’s chairman, Magu was alleged to be in the possession of some sensitive 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.
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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 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.
Ever since his probe, he has been linked to a lot of humongous real estates both locally and internationally. Before we take a rundown on his leaked assessed, we would like to add that an EFCC chairman’s salary is stemmed at ₦1,500,000 to ₦2,000,000.
In Dubai alone, he has been directly linked to 24,000 houses, he has been named as a majority shareholder in Amazon and Microsoft a fact which he has always kept secret.
In a shocking discovery, he has also been named an account holder with a Caymans Island offshore bank service which holds $200 billion funds handled by an anti-corruption czar.
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 is currently sitting at the presidential villa where the acting EFCC chairman is present.
Magu is on a date with fate. He hoisted himself with his own petard.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
