AnAbuja Division of the Federal High Court has validated Senate’s
rejection of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as acting Chairman of the the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The court’s ruling was conveyed to newsmen, yesterday, by Senate spokesman Aliu Sabi Abdullahi, after plenary.
The judgment was handed down on January
15, by Justice John Tsoho. A copy of the judgement was only received by
senators, yesterday, it was gathered.
It was also a day Senators vowed not to confirm nominees of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unless the president replaces Magu.
Consequently, the Red Chamber has urged
President Muhammadu Buhari to comply with the court judgment, which it
said upheld its powers of confirmation and rejection of the president’s
appointments.
Senate had, in 2016, rejected Magu’s
appointment after a security report from the Department of State
Services (DSS) indicated he failed an integrity test.
However, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo,
who was then acting president, declared that Senate actually lacked the
powers to confirm such appointments.
Yesterday, Senate said the president
should, immediately, comply with the judgment, particularly to honour
the recognition accorded him by the African Union (AU) at its 30th
meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was pronounced champion of
anti-corruption in Africa.
Chief among the president’s nominations
that have been kept in view by lawmakers, as a result of the impasse,
include the deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) nominee and
four members of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
Senate particularly declared that the
failure of the CBN to form a quorum for the meeting of the MPC should be
blamed on the Presidency which had failed to do the right thing, by not
complying with the Constitution and the law on appointments into
agencies of the Federal Government.
Said Abdullahi: “By this (court)
judgment, for those who have been worried that the MPC never met, I
think this is a window for the MPC to see the light in meeting.
“If the Executive does the needful,
provide another Nigerian of credible character, of which we have
millions of them – 180 million of them – even by arithmetic error, we
should be able to get good people.
“So, it is our hope and prayer that our amiable
president will find this judgment in order and will be submitting very
soon, another nominee, to carry on with the good work of
anti-corruption, especially now that we are very proud of him as the AU
anti-corruption ambassador.”
But Magu was unperturbed by the court’s verdict, yesterday.
The EFCC boss insisted there is no going back in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
At a press briefing on the outcome of the
just-concluded 30th Ordinary Summit of the African Union (AU) in
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Magu said the war against corruption in the
country will be fought like never before.
“I think you are seeing what we are
doing. We are even encouraged by the fact that the Judiciary in Lagos
has created a special court and that is a plus,” Magu declared.
Over 40 other nominations including,
heads and board members of the Pension Commission (PenCom), Independent
Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), National
Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), Federal Roads Maintenance Agency
(FERMA) are in abeyance.