By Dirisu Yakubu

Those bent on having Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC removed from office are enemies of the Nigerian state desirous of seeing the fight against corruption disrupted, national chairman of the Zenith Labour Party  ZLP, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu has said.

Chief Nwanyanwu stated this in a media parley with a handful of journalists on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to him, Magu has concluded a number of investigations featuring powerful forces involved in financial scandals who are about to be arraigned in court soon, stressing however that same influential but highly corrupt elements are those now doing everything possible to distract Magu from doing what he knows how to do best.

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He said: “I am not trying to say that anybody is indispensable, but Magu has gone too far. He has recorded successes, he is not listening to corrupt Nigerians. A man that has achieved over one thousand convictions, recovered over eight hundred billion naira in cash, which the President recently acknowledged (deserves our collective applause). These things would be reversed if Magu is removed from the office. That is what they want to achieve, by that time corruption would have succeeded in fighting back. That is why the President should send his name to the Senate for confirmation so that you would have given him teeth to bite. For now, Ibrahim Magu is the best man for the job.

“I have heard so many allegations against the EFCC boss, but he who asserts must prove. One of the things they raised was that he has disposed of properties but I am telling you now on my honour and integrity that Magu has not sold one property. The things EFCC sold were things seized before his assumption of office-trucks. In Port Harcourt, for instance, the Federal Ministry of Works was called to assess it after which they gave ridiculous prices and later sold them. But for those things he has recovered, go to zone 6, Abuja, you will see several exotic cars parked, rotting away. You remember there was a time they picked over 40 exotic cars in a particular compound, they are still there. These things are scattered all over the country. It was like that because there was a problem whether the Attorney General or the  EFCC should sell. That was the problem. He has not sold anything. I am saying so because I was involved subtly. Because as we are also supporting him, we are monitoring him.”

According to him, “there was an instance where he (Magu) was accused of under-disclosure of an amount and when they got to the bank, they got higher than that. If they had gotten lower than that, then it would have raised questions.

“The last time was about where he lived and the amount of money used to furnish it; those things got to the President. The President laughed over it. So this is corruption fighting back. No more, no less. The truth is that those who have been investigated and are due for courts are ready now to take their own pound of flesh and we know them. They are the ones putting these monies together to influence government functionaries. But they can’t prove it.

“The President knows that this fight against corruption is the only thing going for his government and they want to truncate it. I will advise the President to call Magu to sit with him one on one. He should ask Magu the whereabouts of all these monies scattered in the banks all over the world, running into hundreds of billions of naira including funds in foreign currencies. These people will go to the people that will help them. They go to government people, business people to negotiate the percentage that would accrue to them if the money is released. But when they get to Magu’s table, they will meet a stumbling block. These funds are all over the banks. There was even one recovered from a first generation bank, in billions, put in the system. They are not happy about it because they have concluded with what they will do with it. It is unfortunate that most Nigerians will be speaking out of ignorance,” he added.

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