The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), has recommended to President Muhammadu Buhari the sacking of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu.
Malami, in a memorandum to the president, anchored his recommendation on several grounds “raging from diversion of recovered loot to insubordination and misconduct”.
Citing multiple sources, Thisday reports that Malami included a short list of three candidates for consideration to replace Magu.
But Magu is fighting back and his supporters within the Presidency say “removing Magu at this time when he has given muscle to Buhari’s anti-corruption fight would be a mistake.”
“It is painful that the EFCC boss is facing certain powerful forces who have decided to remove him in spite of his remarkable achievements,” sources reportedly stated.
But given the weight of Malami’s allegations against Magu, the president may be inclined “to set up a probe panel that will look into the veracity of the allegations and make necessary recommendations”, the sources added.
In the memo, Malami alleged accounting gaps or discrepancies of figures concerning the recovered assets, claiming that Magu was not transparent enough in the management of recovered assets.
Malami also accused Magu of blatant display of arrogance and insubordination to him as supervising minister of the EFCC.
According to a source, Malami claimed that most of the recovered assets by the EFCC were allegedly sold by Magu without the knowledge of anyone.
Neither Magu or the EFCC has responded to the allegations at the time of filing this report.
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