If you know the former acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magun; you may have no cause to hate him or so it seem. He has been occupying the office despite protestations from the 8th National Assembly’ and in the words of many Nigerians, “the method (brawn instead of brain) deployed by the current EFCC under Magu is a Gestapo style that belongs to dictatorial regimes. The acting chairman runs the agency based on public rumours, maneouvers, gossips, political interferences from certain quarters and Marabouts.”
In his over five years on the saddle, the Senate on two occasions refused to confirm him, ‘based on a clear report on damning allegations of corruption leveled against him by government secret agency, the DSS’. But it was the Senate that received the greatest attacks for daring to want him replaced; even as they argued that ’corruption is fighting back’, as they seem to have their facts. That didn’t remove the fact the Presidency appeared to have been in agreement with his ‘achievements’.
In the midst of the cacophony, certain constitutional experts were reportedly told the world that despite provisions of section 2(3) of the EFCC (E) Act, 2004 providing for the Senate to confirm a nominee for the office; they argued that he (Magu) could be in office for as long as the President wanted, even if he was confirmed or not. “The Senate, the EFCC Act and even the Constitution could go to hell. After all, Magu was irreplaceable and was doing an incredibly marvelous job of ‘fighting corruption’”.  
Before the news came out about the suspension, a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Femi Odekunle had said the corruption czar was being victimized by powerful people in the corridor of power, fingering Malami as the arrow head, as he ‘is trying to make Magu suffer for refusal to dance to his tune’. It was later to be discovered that the statement was his opinion; even though he reportedly said he had discussed with the chairman as well as other members of the body. The PACAC disassociated itself from the statement.
Going further, Odekunle is of the opinion that ‘the alleged originating Malami memo, up to the current ‘arrest’ seems an outcome of power-play by power blocs in the corridors of power in which Malami appears to be an arrow-head or major agent of a power bloc that is not really interested in, or in support of, Buharis’s anti-corruption fight’.
Last month, Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, released a damning memo in which he indicted Magu of alleged diversion of recovered funds and fraudulent sale of assets seized by the EFCC, the organization he headed until July 7, 2020. Truly by all indications, the allegations leveled against him, Magu without doubt has lost the moral rectitude to continue to preside over the anti-corruption agency.
Indeed he has to prove his innocence, but that will be a mountain to climb; if the allegations are anything to go by. Magu, like it has been observed elsewhere may have taken ’on far too many battles while leaving his own flanks wide open—is now caught in a dangerous web from which he may never recover’. The list is long to have intimidated him and sent him in the end. But to be truthful about what people felt about Magu, “he attacked the rich, the powerful and the famous – and he made enemies. In a job like that, you couldn’t afford to have dirty secrets of your own. With the whole town itching for you to make a slip, it was like living in a goldfish bowl…”
The former Defence Minister, Lt General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) who recently visited the villa to see President Muhammadu Buhari; as well as former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar got a taste of Magu’s ‘recklessness’. On both occasions, Buhari was reported to have known of it long after it was done. Abdulsalami has denied it was his house that was raided, but his guest house.
The numerous calls for the government to reform all Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) should not be delayed if the war against corruption is to be won. It was the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani; who recently said that the system in operation without doubt “is prone to mismanagement, embezzlement and political misuse.” For whatever reason, there “is no clear framework on who takes custodian of recovered assets and how they are utilized.” 
Over the years, there have been progressively claims by the federal government of huge, “recoveries of assets worth billions of dollars without accounting (for) who manages these assets, how these assets are utilized and what prevents the re-looting of looted assets. The control of lucrative asset recovery ‘business’, confiscations and repatriations has caused inter-agency rivalry among ACAs saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption”, without doubt has made the initiative regrettable.
Perhaps more indicting are the remarks that a former member of the National Assembly, who represented the Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, said about the suspended chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, of running the anti-graft agency like a cult.
Sani currently is having a major crisis with the anti-graft agency took to his Facebook page in celebrating Magu’s debacle saying he made use of some officers to carry out wicked operations and report solely to him. ‘Contrary to the facade you see from the outside, the EFCC has been run by an inside cult called the ‘Magu Boys’ or ‘Chairman Squad’. Continuing, he said ‘they are a select cream of vicious and cruel officers who operate exclusively and with impunity and only report directly to their boss’. 
Several things did not add up to the war against corruption by the agency headed by Magu. Even the mighty, who should not be above the law came under intense heat.  ‘The DSS has more unsavory tales about him. “Magu is currently occupying a residence rented for N40m, at N20m per annum. This accommodation was not paid for from the commission’s finances but by one Umar Mohammed (Air Commodore Rtd.)…. For the furnishing of the residence, Mohammed enlisted the Federal Capital Development Authority to award a contract to Africa Energy, a company owned by the same Mohammed to lavishly furnish the residence at the cost of N43m. Investigations show that the acting EFCC Chairman regularly embarks on official and private trips through private carrier, Easyjet, owned by Mohammed. In one of such trips, Magu flew to Maiduguri, alongside Mohammed and the MD of Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, who was being investigated by the commission over complicity in funds illegally stolen by the immediate past Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.” 
Every responsible Nigerian is concerned as expressed by Olusegun Adeniyi, chairman of THISDAY Editorial Board that ‘the current tragedy raises higher questions about the integrity of institutions and how the cold calculations of factions of the ruling elite can cause rupture within the polity. Besides, I detest the idea of humiliating people out of office, especially by those who themselves are no paragon of virtue. Whatever might have been the excesses of Magu, his current ordeal appears more the culmination of a sinister plot to exact vengeance than any attempt to promote the public good’. I couldn’t agree less.
Continuing, Adeniyi observed that ‘now that the Magu saga has reached a denouement, there are several lessons, starting from the manner in which Daura in 2016 openly wrote to the Senate to question the judgement of the President in nominating him for the job. Even if we concede the mischief in that memo, it was obvious from the beginning that Magu lacked both the intellect and temperament to head the EFCC. And the moment the Senate refused to confirm his appointment, the president should have withdrawn his nomination. But whatever may have been his failings, Magu did record concrete achievements given his success in sending a few fat cats to learn from experience the prison conditions in Nigeria. Magu also revived the EFCC and brought in a needed fear factor before he lost his way. Now that it is obvious that the Magu era is over, the issue is about his replacement’.
Every Nigerian knows that the deed has been done. The war is still on by the agencies to rid Nigeria of corruption. Rightly or wrongly, there are those who still believe that the war smacks of hypocrisy and lack of commitment to succeed. Let’s ensure that we get the system to work for our benefit. The man is presumed innocent until he has been proven culpable through the due process of the law. His most ardent sympathizers for now will have to wait until the saga is resolved. Like it has been said elsewhere: Searching for a clean man in position of authority in Nigeria is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Everyone knows that ‘what is left for him is to fight his battles and clear his name’.