Magu gets 2 days to prepare legal defence

The presidential panel investigating graft allegations against embattled acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has given him two days to consult his lawyers.
The panel reportedly granted Magu the opportunity  “when his responses to the allegations were incoherent,” a security source.
For the third day in a row, Magu faced the panel sitting at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to account for his stewardship at the EFCC since November 2015. Among other allegations, the probe panel asked the EFCC boss to account for the specific number of properties recovered by the commission under his watch and what happened to them, the locations of the recovered property, how they were sold, whether the sale process(es) followed due process and the present state of those still in the commission’s custody.
Said the source: “From some of his submissions before the committee, he could not account for the exact figure of the assets in EFCC custody and what has even become of them. Even for the ones sold, he was incoherent when confronted with details of their disposal.”
The panel, it was further gathered, asked Magu if the bidding process(es) for the sold assets were advertised in national newspapers, as required by law, the short-listing process(es) and whether other government agencies were involved in the sale process(es) and also, whether the Presidency, through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, was notified and involved in the disposal of looted assets, and “he was not coherent in his reply to these allegations.”
This reportedly prompted the probe panel to give him “two days to meet with and present his defence lawyers from Lagos,” according to report monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria.
The committee chaired by Justice Ayo Salami (retd), decided to give Magu the opportunity of “legal counsel,” as the “allegations against him are weighty.”
A Presidency source had on Tuesday told State House correspondents that Magu was suspended from office following the ongoing investigation by the presidential panel.
Since Monday night when he was invited to appear before the panel, Magu has been spending the night at the FCID.
Uncertainty in EFCC as Umar takes charge
Meanwhile, the Director of Operations, Mohammed Umar, has taken charge as the interim head, to avoid a leadership vacuum in the commission.
Until Magu is recalled or a substantive head appointed in his place, Umar would hold sway as boss of the anti-graft commission.
Secretary of the commission, Olanipekun Olukoyede, who ought to have stepped in, is considered to be lacking in operational experience, which makes it difficult for him to assume the position in acting capacity. A source said Umar had not been issued a letter from President Buhari to officially take over in an acting capacity, but decided to step in, to avoid a vacuum in the management of the agency.
 Commission awaits presidential directive 
“Officially, no letter or announcement has been made. We have been waiting since Monday when Ibrahim Magu was whisked to the Villa. We had imagined that he would either return or a new replacement announced. When that didn’t happen, the director of operations had to take over for now. If the President makes a new pronouncement anytime, the new person will take over. For now, that’s all I can tell you. We are waiting for the acting chairman to call for a management meeting and reduce the tension in the commission,” said the source.
Magu, pioneer staff of the EFCC, was appointed by President Buhari in an acting capacity in November 2015, following the expiration of the tenure of Ibrahim Lamorde.
His recent travail is the culmination of his long-running battle with the Senate, the DSS and the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami.
Malami had in a memo reportedly listed Magu’s ‘22 sins’ and recommended his sack to President Buhari.
Malami anchored his recommendation on several grounds “ranging from diversion of recovered loot to insubordination and misconduct.”
In Magu’s place, Malami reportedly recommended three persons as substantive chairman of the EFCC.
 
Daily Sun