The current arrest and investigation of the former Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, came to many Nigerians as a huge surprise.
Investigation by The Point has, however, revealed that the ongoing investigation may lead to more startling revelations, arrests and investigation of eminent Nigerians in a few weeks to come.
A reliable source told our correspondent that when the full report of the Presidential Panel investigating Magu is out, a lot of prominent Nigerians, who hitherto had been regarded as untouchable, both within the government, and outside, would be exposed and might face prosecution.
He said feelers from the panel indicated that a lot of revelations had been made by Magu and other top EFCC officials being investigated.
“In the next two months, you will see a lot of revelations that will shock the nation from the sitting of the Presidential Panel investigating Magu,” the source, who asked not to be named, owing to the sensitivity of the matter, said.
But a chieftain of the Pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said nobody should praise President Muhammadu Buhari for the current investigatiom of allegations of corrupt practices against Magu, adding that many people, including the Department of State Services, had been saying these for years, but that he did not act.
“I don’t buy the idea that Buhari has done something special. What has he done that he has not been warned about? I only thank God that people have been vindicated. Thank God that these things are being exposed. See the allegations being made against Magu alone,” Adebanjo said.
He said it was sad that somebody in charge of Buhari’s anti corruption war was being alleged to have relooted recovered loot.
He recalled a statement by the former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, that the sins of anybody being investigated for corruption would be immediately forgiven when he moves to APC.
“True to Oshiomhole’s talk, somebody like Godswill Akpabio, who was found guilty of corruption, was not only pardoned, but he is now a Minister under Buhari who is claiming to be fighting corruption,” Adebanjo mocked.
Speaking on the development, Human Rights Activist and a Senior Adocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome said, “The breeze has finally blown and the smelly backside of the fowl has been exposed. The following days and weeks will open up new vistas, the Pandora boxes and closed cupboards of decaying skeletons.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had, in his reaction to the arrest and investigation of Magu, said a series of documented allegations were made against Magu, and following a preliminary review of the allegations leveled against Magu and several other members of his staff, there were grounds for a detailed investigation to be conducted.
In a release signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Sheu, Buhari said the investigative panel was constituted in compliance with the extant laws governing the convening of such a body.
He said, “As is the proper procedure, when allegations are made against the Chief Executive of an institution, and in this case an institution that ought to be seen as beyond reproach, the Chief Executive has to step down from his post and allow for a transparent and unhindered investigation.
“Meanwhile, Mr. Magu is being availed the opportunity to defend himself and answer the allegations against him. This is how it should be, as is the fact that under the Laws of Nigeria, every citizen is presumed and remains innocent until proven guilty.”
But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Tayo Oyetibo, said despite allegations against Magu, he still had his rights under the law.
He said aIthough the allegations made against him were said to be documented and bordered on serious economic crimes and abuse of office, that did not mean that he had lost his constitutional rights.
He said, “Amidst the cacophony of allegations of serious crimes made against Magu, the law of Nigeria still speaks the same language, which is expressed in Section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which provides to the effect that every person, who is arrested or detained upon reasonable suspicion of his having committed a criminal offence, shall be brought before a court of law within a period of 24 hours in the case of an arrest in a place where there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of 40 kilometers otherwise he ought to be released on bail.
“It cannot be said that there is no court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of 40 kilometers with Abuja where Magu was arrested.
“While it may be argued that the EFCC, which Magu hitherto headed was notorious for ignoring this constitutional provision in relation to citizens who were arrested under him, the law of karma has no place under our constitutionalism. For these reasons, Magu ought to be released on bail forthwith as otherwise the government would be acting excessively in breach of his rights.”
