Senate President Bukola Saraki has said Nigerians must stop blackmailing the Senate for rejecting the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In a recent chat with Leadership newspaper, Saraki said the report by the Department of State Services (DSS) nailed Magu and not the senate.

The Senate had turned down the nomination of Magu who is currently acting chairman twice.

But Saraki said the Senate merely followed due process expected for the confirmation of a nominee for such sensitive position.

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He said, “We need to stop this issue of blackmail. You must follow the process. Was it Senate that wrote his report? The security report they gave Magu, was it manufactured by the senate? The screening of Magu was live, we didn’t do it in the dark room at night? Everybody saw the performance.

“And lastly, they say because some senators have cases with the EFCC. Yes, some senators have cases with the EFCC but these cases were made public even before Magu became the chairman of the EFCC. So, is it Magu that made your case with EFCC? Why will everybody hold that against Magu?

“I think that is propaganda. Most of these things should be based on facts. And I think we need to separate facts from things that are not true. So, my own view is that those views will change because at the end of the day the views are not based on facts. I have given you fact. And the fact is that what is the responsibility of the senate based on the constitution? We are to make laws”.

On the refusal of the Comptroller-General of Customs to appear before the upper chamber, Saraki said the insistence of the Senate was in the interest of Nigerians.

“When we talked about Customs, we were talking about something in the interest of Nigerians, but some people now take to blackmail and propaganda and now say it had something to do on car duty. At the end of the day, when the facts came out you could not hear anything anymore”, he said.

He added that the relationship between the legislature and executive was more cordial than successive governments.

“Even in the time of Obansajo, and in the PDP, people in those days could not get all ministers approved. This is the first time that all ministerial appointments have been approved, that’s over 90 something percent”, he said.