Anti-corruption war: How presidency, Senate are frustrating Magu’s confirmation

- Sources close to the presidency say President Muhammadu Buhari does not mind the confirmation of Magu as EFCC boss

- Magu’s name has been sent to the Senate but is yet to be confirmed following reports that some forces in the Senate are opposed to the confirmation

- A top ranking senator says Magu is being set up as a sacrificial lamb by forces in the Senate and the presidency

The politics surrounding the confirmation of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has been adduced to opposition from forces withing the presidency and the Senate.

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Magu was appointed in acting chairman of the anti-graft agency in November 2015, but his confirmation has been shrouded in controversy as some power brokers are reportedly opposed to his confirmation.

Leadership, citing sources close to the presidency reports that although President Muhammadu Buhari does not mind the confirmation of Magu, forces around him are opposed to it.

Magu’s name has been sent to the senate but is yet to be confirmed following reports that some forces in the Senate are also opposed to the confirmation.

A top ranking senator speaking on the controversies that have surrounded confirmation of Magu disclosed that the acting EFCC boss may have become a sacrificial lamb in the power play between the presidency and the Senate.

He said: “l have sized up the situation and my belief is that Magu is being set up as a sacrificial lamb. Both sides are now using him as a bargaining chip. I can say he is being positioned as a sacrificial lamb. My personal feeling is that someone just wants to play politics with Magu and use him to get favours. Both sides can gain from this unfortunately. I’m of the opinion that Nigerians should carefully adjudicate in this matter. Magu is a citizen like the rest of us. It is true he is his own man, refusing to be used. Why should he suffer for that?”

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The source said some senators are starting to look into the matter very closely, adding that the Senate is committed to seeing it to a logical end.

"What some of us are looking to see if he is indeed being persecuted for his stand? If we establish this beyond a reasonable doubt, we would not allow him to be sacrificed. So people should watch us and see how we are planning to get to the roots of the matter,” he said.

Meanwhile, senators have demanded that senate president Bukola Saraki release status report of the Department of State Service (DSS) on EFCC boss Ibrahim Magu and let the upper legislative chamber move ahead to confirm his appointment.

Daily Trust reports that some senators are not happy with Saraki for keeping the report because it makes the red chamber appear to be blocking the anti-corruption efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

It is reported that the Director General of the DSS Lawal Daura had presented the Magu report to Saraki since October but the senate president has yet to release the letter even after many weeks.