LAGOS NOVEMBER 22ND (NEWSRANGERS)-The Justice Ayo Salami panel has recommended the sack of Ibrahim Magu, a commissioner of police, as the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), TheCable can report.
The panel, which submitted its report to President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, also asked the president to appoint a new EFCC chairman in an interim position for two years.
Buhari should also look outside the police force in appointing the next chairman, the panel recommended.
At the presentation of its final report, Salami, chairman of the panel, said: “Your Excellency, permit me to say that four successive chairmen of the EFCC from inception have been drawn from the police. Therefore, in appointing a new chairman of EFCC, consideration should be given to candidates from other law enforcement or security agencies and qualified core staff of EFCC as provided in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment Act 2004).
“It is also important to point out that at the moment, 970 policemen (114 drivers, 641 mobile policemen and 215 operations), are on secondment in the EFCC. Therefore, an exit plan for the disengagement of the police and other personnel within two years from now should be considered. This will address the issue of no promotion of core staff for over nine years.
“Your Excellency, our thinking here is that whoever you are appointing other than a core EFCC staff, should be in transitional capacity of two years, during which period an arrangement would be made for appointment of any of the core staff who has been commended by National Crime Agency, UK and other international law enforcement for their professionalism.”
In further development, the Code of Conduct Bureau is set to charge Magu the suspended acting for failing to declare some accounts on his Asset Declaration form, Sunday PUNCH has learnt.
The CCB had invited Magu via a letter with reference number CCB/HQ/II&M/007/2093 dated November 2, 2020. He was asked to appear before the anti-corruption agency on November 17, 2020.
The suspended EFCC boss was asked to come along with acknowledgment copies of all asset declaration forms since joining the public service as well as his payslips and land documents.
It was, however, learnt that Magu failed to honour the request of the CCB but wrote a letter instead, explaining that he would not be able to do so.
In the letter, the suspended EFCC boss said all the necessary documents were in his office at the EFCC headquarters and he had been denied access to the office due to his suspension.
He subsequently informed the CCB that he would not be able to honour its invitation.
Magu also wrote a letter to the Chairman of the defunct Presidential panel, Justice Ayo Salami, who investigated him, and informed him of his CCB probe and his inability to access the documents.
A top source, however, told this newspaper that the CCB expected Magu to have at least honoured the invitation first and then explained his challenges in person.
The source said the CCB already had enough information to show that Magu did not declare some assets but only wanted to give him a chance to explain himself.
He said, “There are some accounts which we discovered that Magu did not declare. In this age of BVN, there are things that you cannot hide. Also, the CCB has copies of his asset declaration forms which have been matched with the discovered accounts.
“It is obvious that Magu did not declare them but rather than explain himself in person, he is making excuses. Magu will be arrested if he fails to show up and he will be charged. That is a done deal.”
However, a lawyer to Magu, Mr. Tosin Ojaomo, argued that Magu had done well by writing the CCB that he would not be able to come.
According to Ojaomo , “Magu explained to the CCB that he would not be able to honour the invitation because his documents are not available. Everyone knows that Magu was arrested impromptu and was not allowed to take any documents from his office. He also informed Justice Salami of his challenge.
“He cannot be arrested because he has explained his challenge to them. It is obvious that this is just a witch-hunt.”
Source: TheCable & Punch
