by Alexander O. Onukwue

Ibrahim Magu is still not the substantive Chairman of the EFCC, after nearly two years of being nominated by President Buhari.

Magu has the backing of the Presidency, both Buhari and Osinbajo, as well as that of his former boss and the first Chairman of the Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, but he remains unwelcomed to take a bow on the floor of the Senate. He is probably more loathed in the red chamber than by any other group of persons in Nigeria. When Acting President Osinbajo suggested, in June, that it may not be necessary that the Senate confirm Magu before he can be recognized as the Chairman of the Commission, so infuriated were the legislators that they threatened a mile form of fire and fury if Osinbajo did not apologise.

The EFCC office in Wuse Zone 7 was lit up with gun fire in the early hours on Wednesday, August 16 2017. Senator Shehu Sani, an outspoken member of the Senate took to Twitter within hours of the incident being public to express his condemnation of the attack but there is no official word from the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, on the incident at the time of writing this. The Senate, from a day before the attack on the EFCC, began work on Anti-hate speech and Anti-Jungle Justice bills so it probably has a lot on their hands, and immediately condemning shootings at an agency under the Presidency would not appear to be business of plenary.

The unfortunate incident could give a window with which to view the continued chasm between the Executive and the Senate on the issue of the EFCC. The Senators have felt slighted in some way by the insistence of the Buhari administration on Magu, despite the fact that the indictment against the man has come from another agency under the supervision of the Presidency.

How both arms of Government and their key characters choose to respond to the matter should reveal more the substance and depth of the disparity over the role and relevance of the EFCC.

Editor