President might re-submit Magu’s name for EFCC chairmanship [VIDEO]
Magu has been rejected twice by the Senate, first in December 2016 and again in March 2017.
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The Senate based its rejection of Magu on a report written by the Department of State Services accusing him of corruption.
However, Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu says that the president might push for Magu’s confirmation yet again.
“The president may re-present Magu, or the president may decide that another person will go forward,” Shehu said during an interview with Daily Trust.
“As it is at the moment, the decision is entirely left to the president to take; whether he wants to go forward with Magu again, or he wants to substitute him with another candidate, but as it is, Magu continues as acting chairman of the EFCC and carrying out the mandate of the office,” he added.
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo had said in April that Buhari would not replace Magu because he didn’t trust the report submitted by the DSS.
"We should commend the president for not interfering with what the DSS said. The DSS came up with a report and the man who was accused refuted it. He explains and gives a reason. When that happened, the president looked at what Magu said and what the DSS wrote and he said ‘I am satisfied with what Magu said," Osinbajo said while speaking to journalists in Abuja.
"He then decided to retain Magu as the nominee for EFCC. I don’t see any reason why that should be contested. The president has not interfered with what the DSS said. If he wanted to interfere, he would have ordered the DSS to keep quiet. He didn’t do that, but he said ‘I don’t think the DSS report is meritorious enough to withdraw his nomination.’
"The president reserves the right to say, ‘this is who I want’. I’m fully in support of Magu as the EFCC chairman just as the president is," he added.
Magu was appointed by Buhari as acting chairman of the EFCC on November 9, 2015.
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