Magu: Controversy As AGF Malami Exposes ‘Lies’ In Presidency

Rising from the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, Malami told journalists that the position of Magu as EFCC boss was never raised or discussed at the FEC, comments which contradicts the position of Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

“The fundamental consideration about the alleged statement is the fact that at no point ever did the Federal Executive Council sit down to arrive at the decision in one-way or the other as far as the issue of nomination or otherwise is concerned.

“So, I do not think it constitutes an issue for the Federal Executive Council to make any clarification because it has never been considered by the FEC,” the AGF said.

However, Mohammed on the same Wednesday told State House correspondents that Magu’s issue was discussed at the FEC meeting and the executive will move to resolve all impending issues with the legislature.

When asked whether the issue was raised during the weekly FEC meeting, the information minister said: “It came up, we have an excellent strategy in dealing with issues with the National Assembly.

“Whatever may be the misunderstanding or problem between the National Assembly and Executive, we have an excellent mechanism of dealing with it,” he added.

Reacting to the AGF’s position, the Presidency in a tweet same Wednesday night said the position of the AGF was misinterpreted by the media.

“The Attorney-General’s point is that decisions on Presidential nominations are matters for the Presidency and not the Federal Executive Council,” the tweet read.

Magu’s nomination for the confirmation as the EFCC boss had twice been rejected by the Senate, but the Presidency had re-appointed Magu to head the agency in acting capacity.

The Senate during plenary on Tuesday suspended entertaining any request from Acting President Osinbajo until Magu is thrown out.

Since his appointment, Magu had enjoyed the confidence of both President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Osinbajo.

“I’m fully in support of Magu as the EFCC Chairman just as the president is…” Mr. Osinbajo said in April.

“It is up to the Senate to make their judgement. If our candidate is rejected, we can represent our candidate.”

Osinbajo went further to state that the Presidency could use Section 171 of the constitution to make appointments without reference to the Senate.

The section states 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 of such office shall vest in the president.”

Senators insist that the EFCC chairmanship is not among the positions covered by this section, and also argued that the act setting up the agency prescribes confirmation by the Senate.

Speaking on the stance of the AGF and the Acting President, President Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu said, “Our understanding is that some remarks made by the Acting President some months ago when he was the Vice President, because the President was around at that time, an opinion he gave is being misconstrued.

“A senior lawyer in the country offered an opinion, in which he said some categories of public officers traditionally cleared by the National Assembly need not to go through that process, that those ones can be appointed by the Presidential fiat; they don’t have to go through screening. But several months ago, in his position as Vice President, Professor Osinbajo gave a personal opinion saying what this lawyer said makes sense,” Mr. Shehu explained, making reference to Mr. Osinbajo’s support of the stance of human rights lawyer, Femi Falana.

“There is no official position by the government of Nigeria, and the Federal Executive Council never sat down to take a decision to say that some categories of officials will not be sent to the National Assembly any longer or that the authority of the Senate under the constitution to screen and pass nominees has never been questioned by the government or the Federal Executive Council.

“From the time the Vice President gave that opinion to now, more than 20 nominations have been forwarded to the Senate and quite a number of them have been screened, sworn-in and are now occupying positions so therefore; this is not a big issue as some people want to make it,” he said.

Shehu said all parties involved in the matter would soon meet to resolve it.

“The party, government and the National Assembly will sit on a round table and this matter will be discussed and resolved. I assure you,” he added.