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It started like rumour and speculations, especially through obvious leakages in the media on the imminent dislodging of Police Commissioner Ibrahim Magu, as the acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He is currently under interrogation on certain aspects of his tenure. Curiously, a major charge was that he engaged in leaking information on crimes he was either investigating or was to eventually investigate, a conduct which allegedly might be prejudicial to fair trial for the suspect.
It is, therefore, worrying that Magu’s accusers have emerged as engaging in the same dirty trick of leaking information, indeed, accusations against him. Such tactics could only discredit his accusers, much as leakages of information discredited Magu on such magnitude, which constituted misconduct to lose him his job. 
Propaganda, Magu’s obsession, is either false information or excessive craze for publicity or both. That was what crashed Magu’s career. It, therefore, goes to follow that similar propaganda cannot help his accusers and/or interrogators. The truth is that Ibrahim Magu, now down if not out yet, has nothing more, at least, not much to lose. Those on trial are his interrogators or even his accusers who stand the risk of, ironically, acquiring public sympathy for Magu. Sympathy? What else could follow if allegations leaked by his accusers/interrogators turned out to be false?
In this matter, based on serious criminal allegations against Magu, the set goal is to remove him from office. There is, therefore, no need for even the remotest semblance of an overkill. On its own, the investigating team imposed total blackout on their proceedings, a kind gesture to Magu in case wild allegations might be made by those on whose toes he might have stepped. It must also be mentioned that Magu himself never extended such gesture to those who found themselves in his net or those he was out to catch. Accordingly, allegations made against Magu, especially sourced to his accusers, should be seen to be correct and prosecutable. So far, billions and billions of nara has been quoted in seeming clear-cut malfeasance by Magu.
The emphasis should be on the validity or at least credibility of these allegations. Was this the case so far? How did it come about that a pastor was alleged to have fronted for Magu in the purchase of some property in Dubai? Other criminal allegations against Magu put the figure at almost N40 billion, according to various leaks sourced by the media, to the investigating committee. That figure in itself, if true, was adequate to disgrace any accused out of office. In effect, Magu’s alleged investment of half a billion naira in landed property in Dubai through a pastor was avoidable, especially if shrouded in uncertainty. Unfortunately, the pastor so accused as a collaborator of Magu publicly denied the entire allegation, just as allegations of financial crimes made by Magu in his glorious days were denied by the suspects. Two of such public figures unfairly treated were former Osun State deputy governor Iyiola Omisore and ex-defence minister, Musiliu Obanikoro.
Such denials dented Magu’s tenure as acting chairman of EFCC. Why on earth did Magu’s accusers or and interrogators have to falsify allegations against him? By the standard of looting of public funds in Nigeria, an otherwise seeming whopping sum of less than N30 million (not billion) is chicken feed, which, even if true, could have been overlooked in the series of financial crimes listed against Magu, an amount Magu’s accusers could have overlooked and concentrated on other facts with which to discredit and prosecute Magu, especially on the over N40 billion allegedly defrauded.
To worsen matters, it was also leaked that Magu gave N28 million to a Lagos lawyer, for undisclosed purposes. As it happened, only mere threat of libel writs forced the misled sections of the media to recant and apologise for foolishly disseminating propaganda. This particular issue is not as simple as it may appear. First, Magu’s accusers on alleged leaking of information emerged as hypocrites for copying the bad habit which might prejudice eventual trial. Second, if the investigating team opted for total blackout, how did a major government-owned mass medium publish completely fake news? Henceforth, there should be no more leakages, true or false.
Magu’s accusers should be courageous enough to take responsibility for whatever facts discovered about Magu and take him to court to defend himself. Magu was appointed to public office and, therefore, is liable to be removed by his benefactors, if and when necessary. The only obligation owed Magu and Nigerians is to strictly follow legal procedure, instead of carelessly or maliciously mishandling a simple matter of punitive action against a public office holder. Those given the task of investigating Magu are substantially learned in law to know and follow the procedure.
On this score, a ruling by a former Chief Justice of the Federation Fatai Williams is sacrosanct. According to him, no report of any administrative panel, or by whatever name it is called, can convict a Nigerian citizen. That sacred duty, according to Justice Williams, is the sole responsibility of law courts. That is not necessarily to acquit Magu but to ensure legal cover for whatever fate may befall him. Otherwise, Nigerian elites, including lawyers and mischievous anarchists, can be trusted to turn round and mount a campaign of sympathy for Magu that he was hounded out of office or that war on corruption, admittedly already poorly handled, had finally been abandoned. Already, we are being chocked with such nuances.
It is essential to note that nothing in the views expressed here convicts or acquits Ibrahim Magu. Only law courts should be allowed to perform their duty on whatever findings of the investigating committee.
Buhari’s duty on NDDC
President Muhammadu Buhari owes Nigerians, himself and history the duty to set up a full-scale judicial probe into the mob chaos of accusations and counter-accusations of alleged questionable expenditure at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). It is interesting to note that all those involved in the series of allegations are indigenes of South-South. Against the background that, all along, other parts of the country had been accused of being developed with their (Niger Delta’s) oil money, Buhari should seize the opportunity for such an open probe to enable Nigerians know the actual culprits. It is a necessary surgical operation.
In the past few weeks, the amount mentioned in the alleged NDDC scandal is unbelievable. Contracts, real or imagined, are ever tied to billions of naira. Yet, the most minor development in the area remains a mirage, with ordinary Niger Deltans wallowing in everyday want. Up to about two years ago, the bogey was for innocent Niger Deltans to be misled into violence in purported protest against neglect of their area. Irritatingly, their bluff was called in this column with a massive expose on “Who malstructured Nigeria in the first place?” It was a focus on how, for about 25 years, Niger Delta had been annually enjoying special treatment up to 13 per cent from the Federation Account, in addition to the statutory revenue allocation to each of the states in South-South zone.
Specific mention was made of how former President Ibrahim Babangida specially created the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) solely administered by indigenes of oil-producing areas with allocation increased by General Sani Abacha from 3 to 13 per cent. President Umar Yar’Adua specially created Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. By the way, former President Olusegun Obasanjo merely came in 1999 to change the name from OMPADEC to NDDC. But the agency continued to collect billions and billions of nara as allocation annually. If total national revenue in a year is N2 trillion, over 10 per cent of that amount goes to NDDC.
It is, therefore, no surprise that allegations and counter-allegations feature every time among the hierarchy of NDDC. The judicial probe should be from the establishment of OMPADEC to NDDC so that Nigerians can know how much had been poured into the agency, compared to the level of development. Better still, Nigerians will know what all the allegations and counter-allegations are about.
