A presidential panel, up about a week ago, on Monday night, accused the embattled acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, of diverting recovered loots.
The panel, set up by President Muhammadu Buhari and headed by a former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami (rtd), grilled Magu for six hours at the Presidential Villa Banquet Hall.
The panel had about seven other members, including the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Mike Ogbizi, representatives from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the DSS and other related agencies.
The EFCC boss, who was taken to the venue of the investigation by armed security operatives from the Department of State Security (DSS), was, among 23 other allegations, accused of living above his means, fraternising with corrupt persons and diversion of loot.
Most of the allegations, it was learnt, emanated from a report by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and a report by the DSS which was submitted to the Senate in 2016 and 2017.
According to a report, the embattled EFCC boss who was said to have slept at the venue of the investigation, was also grilled over missing funds, discrepancies in recovered funds and insubordination, among others.
Magu, it was learnt, was only allowed to leave after about six hours and may be asked to return to make further clarifications, just as it was learnt that he might be asked to step down pending the outcome of investigation.
“The usual procedure is that when one is facing an investigation of this nature, he would be advised to step down,” a source close to the investigative panel was quoted to have said.
Denials of an arrest notwithstanding, the acting EFCC boss was, at about 12noon on Monday, accosted by security agents in plain clothes in front of the old EFCC headquarters on Fomella Street, Wuse 2, Abuja.
Magu, who was in his own convoy, was shown a letter of invitation from the presidential panel requesting his presence, but he was said to have explained to the security agents that he would honour the invitation at a later date.
The security agents, apparently DSS operatives, refused his explanation and he was whisked away to the Presidential Villa and brought before the panel which subsequently grilled him on sundry allegations.
A top EFCC source said, “Attempts to bring Magu before the panel in the past had proved abortive. So, on Monday, a team of security agents in plain clothes accosted him around the old EFCC office in Wuse 2.
“Magu’s men quickly put up a resistance but the security officials on the other side quickly corked their guns and insisted that they were following presidential orders. They immediately took Magu into custody and brought him before the panel.”
Source: Streetjournal
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