Crack in The Senate deepens over Magu

Indication of a crack in the Senate over the rejection of Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) emerged on Tuesday as it dismissed an earlier claim by its leader, Senator Ali Ndume,  the anti-graft boss’ confirmation was not rejected.

The Senate Leader had during a visit to the Presidential Villa on Monday said the Senate didn’t reject Magu as reported, but only returned his nomination to The Presidency based on the security report.

Ndume said security report from the DSS bothering on allegations of corruption, prevented the Senate from going ahead with the confirmation procedure and not that the Senate totally rejected Magu.

As if angered by the position of its leader, the Senate through its spokesman, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, said Ndume had no power to speak on behalf of the Senate on the Magu’s case.

He described the position by the Senate Leader as a personal opinion which according to him, never represented the position of the Senate.

Sabi, however quoted from the votes and proceedings of last Thursday’s plenary to affirm that the Senate won’t go ahead with the process of confirming Magu on the strength of Security report submitted on him by the DSS. He said the votes and proceedings had shown clearly that Magu never qualified to occupy the office of EFCC Chairman.

The Senate spokesman said he was more in the position to speak for the Senate in official capacity  than the Leader, stressing that  what the Senate Leader said about Magu was wrong having negated the position of the Senate as an institution.

He, however, re-echoed the position by the Senate on Magu, insisting that the Senate has rejected him.

He said, “The 8th senate believes in its integrity. We uphold and promote the rule of law which is the basic thing about our democracy. We are committed to doing things differently to stabilize the polity in the collective interest of Nigerians.

“I would like to make the following clarification. I’m holding the votes and proceeding of Thursday. We had two votes and proceeding because we had to go into joint session to receive President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Our votes and proceedings are the official records of what transpired in chamber. I briefed you on Thursday to the effect that the senate is announcing that in view of security reports we were unable to confirm Magu.

“We then rejected and returned the nomination to President Muhammadu Buhari for further action.

“Media reports emerging especially from interviews granted by Sen. Ndume meant we have to clarify issues.

“For the records, I am the official spokesman of the senate and I intend to discharge this with honour and integrity because the sanctity of the institution is crucial to the sustenance of democracy.

“To clarify, I have only one point of reference, which is, the votes and proceedings.

“This is the only official position of the senate. What I say, I say on behalf of the senate. Nigerians should be guided. There is no ambiguity in what we said.

“Senate is an institution and we are working with the Constitution and whatever  rules  we use, our powers are drawn from the constitution.

“We also want the media to be guided in the matter because of some misleading news in the public domain.

“Even with respect to SGF  you as journalists can do your proper investigation. The Genesis was the motion raised by Kaka and Ndume and Senate decided to take a look at the abuses and SGF  was found to be part of the abuse”

Sabi also denied reports that there were two conflicting reports on Magu, such that the senate acted on the one it liked just to denied Magu the much sought after confirmation.

According to him, the insinuation that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate),  Ita Enangn has a different security report which runs contrary to what the Senate has, was not true.

He noted that the Senate was not under the control of the SSA to the President but the Senate President, and as such, the institution is not duty bound to seek official information on any issue through the SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters.

“Truth is sacrosanct. For every line of command there is a line of communication. For the records, the leader that I know is Bukola Saraki and administrative leader is the Clerk to the Senate, As a routine, when you have  a nominee, security report should be given.

“The report we are talking about was sent to the Acting Clerk of the senate. If you talk about two reports which one is the second one? I heard a report was sent to the SSA to the President, Senator Ita Enag but I am not holding brief for him. He is a liaison officer and if there is any communication Saraki or clerk are in charge,” he said.