On Wednesday, the Acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, made it in good time to the National Assembly for his scheduled confirmation hearing. But after spending nearly two hours there, he was asked to report back the following day.
After spending eleven months in acting capacity, Magu had hoped to be confirmed on Thursday when he appeared before the senate. Instead, he left the red chamber in the same acting capacity. His confirmation was denied based on security report presented to the senate by the DSS.
While the nation’s news media fed on this, it somehow missed the major news of the day, if not news of the year – that President Muhammadu Buhari has been finally demystified. Saraki and his co-travelers have successfully humiliated the number one citizen, exposing him as a political misfit that lacks capacity to get things done.
The questions begging for answers now are:
* Why did the President not go through the secret dozier of his nominee before forwarding his name to the senate?
* If he had and that the latest obstacle was new information passed to the senate by the DSS, why did the Director General, Lawal Daura by-passed the commander-in-chief and also failed to alert the president on the new findings against Magu?
* Why did the senate president failed to extend courtesy of established protocol of advising President Buhari to withdraw the name of the nominee that he very well knew would not scale through.
* What is the role of the President’s Special Adviser on Senate in this saga and why did he not alert the president on the impending humiliation.
I am not unaware of the allegations of in-house fighting between the security agencies’ bosses and the NSA who is supposed to be the coordinating supervisor of them all.
There were reports carried by some newspapers about three months ago, indicating that Magu might not be confirmed as the Chairman of EFCC, because he refused to hands-off the case of Sahara Energy that is accused of allegedly defrauding the government of billions of naira through questionable oil deals.
It was alleged that Mamman Daura and his godson Abba Kyari had drafted the DG, DSS into countering Magu and the NSA for them. That was why, according to some reports, the DSS started doing the work of the EFCC by invading the houses of some financial crimes suspects including judges and lawyers, just to show the President that they can do better and he does not need Magu to successfully fight corruption.
In fact it was allged that it took over three months between the time President Buhari directed his chief of staff to forward Magu’s name to the senate for confirmation and the time it was actually sent. Even at that, it was futher alleged it took the bold interference of the Vice President who, when in acting capacity, finally sent the name to the senate.
The bottomline however, is, the buck stops at the President’s table. What ever happens happened because our number one citizen lacks the capacity to lead, a point that most Nigerians miss, because they cannot seperate that with integrity that is his major selling point. That is why, corruption, allegedly, thrives right under his nose and neither does he realise it nor is he ready to listen to anyone outside the hawks that held him hostage.
He was lucky to have had good hands like his late deputy, Tunde Idiabong and Dr Mahmud Tukur when he was head of state in the 1980s, and Salihijo Ahmed during his reign at PTF.
He is not that lucky this time around, and as the Fulani would tell you, some people become more stubborn and arrogant as they age. At 73, President Buhari is exhibiting both characteristics.
I will reserve further comments for my indicated series on 2019 prospective presidential candidates.
May God help Nigeria!
Aminu Iyawa served in Government House, Yola, Adamawa State in the 1990s as Director of Press and Public Affairs.
