The Nigerian Senate has rejected the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The lawmakers said they could not okay President Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination of Mr. Magu based on security report available to them.
The spokesperson for the upper legislative chamber, Aliyu Abdullahi, revealed this Thursday afternoon after the Senators emerged from a closed-door meeting where Mr. Magu’s confirmation was discussed.
“The Senate wishes to inform the public that based on available security report, the Senate cannot proceed with the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“The nomination of Ibrahim Magu is hereby rejected and has been returned to the President for further action,” Mr. Abdullahi said.
The Senate had slated today, Thursday, to screen Mr. Magu, who has been acting as EFCC Chairman in the past one year.
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To anyone who has a functioning brain and has been following the war against corruption in Nigeria, this won’t be a surprise. The real reasons can only speculate, but unless the senate come out and reveal the security reports they based their decision on, we can only assume that they rejected him out of their own interest.
How the presidency responds will be important and will determine where we go with this fight against corruption.