By Emmanuel Aziken

Some senators were walking with an unusual gait and grandeur last Thursday after thumping Mr. Ibrahim Magu with a cavalier rejection of his nomination as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The bounce was, however, not just restricted to the senators.

Even in the highest echelons of government there was no doubt that Magu’s rejection as the substantive chairman of the EFCC was received with unusual plaudit.

The rebuff was upon a closely circulated security report authored by the Department of State Services, DSS on the nominee.

The report inevitably opened the breach in the executive arm of government that had only been the butt of much speculation in the past. Before now, the division in the government had been seen in the legislative arm of government, and lately to within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

That the Senate used a damning report authored by the DSS to bring down a principal actor in the realisation of one of three campaign promises of President Muhammadu Buhari—anti-corruption—is illustrative of a major rift in the administration.

It was remarkable that the Senate before throwing him out, invited the nominee into the chamber for about 15 minutes during which they neither raised the issue of the weighty allegations against him nor did they tell him why they were rejecting him.

There is no doubt that Mr. Magu’s position in the “Change” philosophy of the government had become shaky on account of the crude philosophy he adopted in the prosecution of the anti-corruption war.

The gist is that besides the senators, some key elements in the “Change” government had also been embarrassed after Mr. Magu exposed some of their alleged malfeasances.

Whether the DSS was working hand in glove with some in the Senate to undermine the anti-graft war is a matter that is still out there for the jury.

After the split in the party caucuses in the two chambers of the National Assembly, the rift between Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun, and now the crack between the leadership of the DSS and the EFCC, there is bound to be a queasy feeling about the sense of unity in the administration.

This sense of division is compounded by the fact that the ruling APC has been unable to hold a Board of Trustees meeting for months against the provisions of its constitution.

Even the regular meetings of the National Executive Committee, NEC of the ruling party have now become history.

The fact that the Senate did not address Magu on the issues raised in the security report by flatly rejecting to screen him would in the eyes of some amount to an act of prejudice on the part of the lawmakers. However, the Senate is not bound to explain to anyone beyond the convenient explanation of security concerns as deposed by its spokesman.

But does the Senate’s rejection remove Magu from office in acting capacity? The law establishing the EFCC is vague on the matter. Some legal experts believe that Magu could continue in an acting capacity.

In the past the National Assembly had rebuffed some presidential nominations with as much gusto as it handled Magu. Who would forget the fight between the National Assembly and Nasir El-Rufai when he revealed the bribery scam involving some principal officers of the Senate in 2003?

Who would also forget the face-off between the National Assembly and the erstwhile director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Arunma Oteh?

In the ensuing development, the claim by supporters of Magu that he can continue in office without Senate confirmation will only deepen the conflict. The National Assembly’s response could then be to resort to its joker: to wit, to cut off funding for the EFCC in the budget by refusing to allow him defend the budget. Fortuitously, the 2017 budget defence is at hand!