I Don’t Have Houses in Maitama- Magu

The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu, has denied owning any house or houses in the Maitama area of Abuja.

The EFCC boss further asked a national newspaper and its author to retract the story of face legal action.

Magu stated this in Abuja while reacting to a media report in one of the national newspapers (not The Daily Times).

The newspaper had in its edition of Saturday with a story captioned “Magu Under Fresh Probe over 2 Abuja Mansions”, alleged that Magu was under probe over two mansions in Maitama area of Abuja reportedly linked to his wife.

But the spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, had in a statement made available yesterday in Abuja faulted the story on the grounds that it is baseless and unfounded.

Uwujaren added that there was no iota of truth in the story, saying that the story is a work of fiction.

The EFCC statement reads in part, ” Relying on ghost sources, the newspaper claimed that “the houses being investigated are located in Danube Street, Maitama and Missouri Street, off Colorado Close, Ministers Hill.” It added that “the two houses were said to have been bought last year.”

But Magu stated that neither himself nor his wife own any property in Maitama. He urged Nigerians to disregard the report as false and designed by the authors to achieve motives that are obvious.

The EFCC boss said, “I don’t have any mansion anywhere in Maitama. Would I have two mansions in Abuja yet chose to live in a rented apartment in the same community?

The Sun can take over the properties if they have evidence that they belong to me or my wife”.

The acting chairman further disclosed that he is taking legal action against the newspaper.

He said, “This is another calculated attempt to smear my reputation. They may have gotten away with such false reports in the past but I will not let this go unchallenged.

I have already briefed my lawyers to institute legal action against The Sun newspaper.”