‘I’m Glad Senate Didn’t Confirm Me’ – EFCC Boss, Ibrahim Magu

‘I’m Glad Senate Didn’t Confirm Me’ – EFCC Boss, Ibrahim Magu

The
acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
Ibrahim Magu, said on Thursday that he was glad the Senate refused to
confirm him as the substantive chairman of the anti-graft agency.

The acting chairman said this before the Lagos State High Court in
Ikeja where he was testifying in a libel suit he filed against The Sun
Newspaper. The EFCC boss who sued the publishers before Justice Doris
Okuwobi claimed N5bn damages and also demanded that The Sun Newspapers
should publish an apology and retract the alleged libellous
publications.

Magu, under cross-examination by the respondent’s counsel, Charles
Enwelunta, said he was not worried that he had been rejected by the
Senate twice.

He said, “I have been rejected by the Senate twice and it does not
worry me that I’m not confirmed; I’m not bothered. It’s good that they
did not confirm me, I may not be able to work very well as we have been
able to get over 700 convictions.”

He claimed before the court that he had only one house in the Karo
area of Abuja as against the publication of The Sun Newspaper alleging
that two houses were traced to his wife by the Department of State
Services. Magu dismissed as false The Sun Newspaper’s publication of
March 25, 2017, titled ‘Magu under fresh probe,’ which claimed that two
houses located in a highbrow area in Maitama, Abuja were traced to his
wife and that he was under discreet investigation by the DSS.

He said, “Since I came to the EFCC, nobody has investigated me. I am
not under any probe, the publication is totally false. Even if I have
the money, I wouldn’t buy houses in Maitama.

“My wife is a civil servant. We only have one house sold to us in
Karo, Abuja. The publication is completely untrue. I want to tell you
the damage it has done to me. It was not done to me alone, it has gone
down my lineage, the entire family, and it has done so much wrong. It
has done so much damage.”

Justice Okuwobi adjourned the matter till February 28, 2019 for further proceedings.