By Ehichioya Ezomon
As an aside to this article, reference is made to an ongoing global promo for the nomination of persons as Anti-Corruption Heroes of 2019, for the Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani International Anti-Corruption Excellence (ACE) Award.
The promo features the December 2018 presentation of the award to Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, the pioneer Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The high-point of the ceremony, held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, was not in the presentation with the plaque, but in the introduction of Ribadu as “a man who refused a $15 million bribe.”
That case involved a former Nigerian governor, who the EFCC, under Ribadu, was investigating over a monumental fraud in his eight-year rule of his state.
To possibly “kill” the investigation, the suspect offered Ribadu a $15 million bribe, but he turned it down, and deposited the hefty sum with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as a potential exhibit.
Sadly, the invitation for nomination for the 2019 ACE Award coincides with fresh attempts to ease Ibrahim Magu from the EFCC, where he’s been “Acting Chairman” since November 2015.
Thus, the Ribadu anecdote serves to refresh our memory that, save the coming of Magu, the anti-corruption war that’s at its nadir when he took over would have long been dead, and forgotten.
The EFCC, as the “toughest job” in the polity, is the single body that shines the light in the dark places where corruption and the corrupt cohabit to undermine the citizens’ patrimony.
Shining that light to expose their “cohabitation” is an arduous and risky task, demanding only the strong-willed to superintend. As the maxim goes, “If you fight corruption, corruption will fight back.”
And corruption in Nigeria is fighting back, with the non-confirmation of Magu aimed at stopping the crusade from uprooting corruption or reducing the scourge in the system.
The Senate of the Eighth National Assembly, conniving with outside forces located mainly in the government at national and sub-national levels, frustrated the confirmation of Magu.
The Senate, hiding behind “unfavourable security reports” by the Department of State Services (DSS), declined to confirm him twice, and yet pressured President Muhammadu Buhari to “sack” him.
Can the Director of the DSS, an aide, be more concerned about the screening than President Buhari, who nominated Magu twice despite the so-called “unfavourable security reports”?
If the rules were/are followed, Magu would be substantive Chairman of the EFCC, as the 1999 Constitution (as amended) does not envisage him to get approval of the Senate.
Section 171(1) of the Constitution provides that: “Power to appoint persons to hold or act in the offices to which this section applies, and to remove persons so appointed from any such office, shall vest in the President.”
Section 171(2)(a-e) states the offices to which this section applies, while subsection (d) designates the office as the “Permanent Secretary in any Ministry or Head of any Extra-Ministerial Department of the Government of the Federation howsoever designated.”
Does section 171(1)(2)(d) apply to Ibrahim Magu, who heads an Extra-Ministerial Department of the Government of the Federation in the EFCC?
Absolutely, argues Kabir G. Ibrahim, a legal practitioner and anti-corruption activist, who, in an article published by several websites in March 2017, dealt with the constitutional, statutory and judicial position of the law regarding the Magu saga.
He said: “Flowing from the above constitutional provision, it is safe to posit that once the President appoints a person as Chairman of the EFCC, such person does not require the confirmation of the Senate…”
Citing the position of the law, as decided by Ayoola JSC (as he then was) in a case, I.N.E.C. v. Musa (2003) 3 NWLR (Pt. 806) 72 at 158 and 199, Mr. Ibrahim contends that in “covering the field,” the National Assembly cannot arrogate to itself powers that impeach the Constitution.
The Supreme Court ruling: “Howsoever it is described, where the Constitution has covered the field as to the law governing any conduct, the provision of the Constitution is the authoritative statement of the law on the subject.
“The supremacy of the National Assembly is subject to the overall supremacy of the Constitution. Accordingly, the National Assembly which the Constitution vests powers cannot go outside or beyond the Constitution…”
Why is Magu the sustained scorn of the “lootelite” (elite looters)? Because he remains the only pain in their butt. Their fear is his reiteration in January 2019 that the EFCC would secure more convictions than it did in 2018 when it got 312 convictions.
The records are not yet out, but another reason for wanting him out is what many Nigerians didn’t know: Magu is one of the backbones of the acclaimed successes of the Ribadu era at the EFCC.
He’s described as a “tougher” cop than Ribadu. He’s patient, and interrogates suspects non-stop for hours, to wear them down. So, they would prefer to be quizzed by other interrogators.
Here’s to show Magu’s “toughness,” as a lawyer told TheCable. Ribadu had asked him to release someone from detention and ask him to come back. But “Magu, while saluting Ribadu, said, ‘We shall release him, Sir, after he has answered our questions.'”
Magu is about the longest top serving investigator in the EFCC, possessing a trove of dossiers on politically-exposed persons (PEPs), including, perhaps, the 23 “completed” case files of the 31 governors that Ribadu said were under investigation in 2006.
Hence, those who want him out are former and serving governors, lawmakers, ministers and heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs); alleged “cabals” in the Presidency; and financial suckers in the private sector.
So, as currently constituted, remove Magu from the EFCC, and these manipulators of the system for individual and group interests would have a field day stealing the nation blind.
Rather than answer to their charges, they parrot being “witch-hunted.” But Magu seems deaf to such nuances, focusing on the “political determination,” and exhortation of President Buhari that, “If we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill us.”
And Magu’s message: “My dream is to leave a better Nigeria, free of corruption to the next generation. We cannot continue the way we are going; otherwise, there will be no Nigeria for the next generation.”
Will his traducers allow him to achieve this self-imposed dream he vows to pursue with his last breath? Well, only President Buhari can determine that by renewing his mandate at the EFCC.
International convention forbids Magu’s removal midway into his tenure as Chairman of the Commonwealth Conference of Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa. Doing so could also dent the image of Buhari as coordinator of Africa’s anti-corruption war.
* Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
