Surely, there has to be a
lot more to the Senate refusal to confirm Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) than the contents of what is
being circulated in the media as “security report”. In all honesty, it is hard
to see the ‘damning’ part of what the public has been fed with so far, or how
it even qualifies as a security report in the first place.
To be sure, Magu's
transgressions include allegations that he lives in a 20 million naira a year
accommodation (or 40 million, whichever figure sounds more sexy) paid for by
FCDA (or Magu's “questionable” businessman friend, whichever version is more
fit for purpose); that he once flew in a private jet owned by, and in the
company of the same ‘friend’, a retired Air Commodore; that he once flew first
class to Saudi Arabia for Umrah; that he was once arrested and detained by his
bosses for taking official EFCC files home from the office.
I have tried to list these
allegations in their order of severity. However, it so happens that as you move
from one to the next, you are not so sure about which is more flimsy among the
charges. There are one or two more details such as the private jet in which he
flew (from Maiduguri to Abuja) also had, as one of its passengers, a bank
managing director under investigation at the time by EFCC.
Now, let’s forget the
flimsiness of these allegations for a while, or the accuracy of the 'facts' for
that matter, and look more dispassionately at the case, at least now that the
shock value of the report has waned somewhat.
Starting with the N40 million
rent, the substance of the SSS allegation appeared to hinge initially on the
insinuation that Magu's residential accommodation was paid for by this
businessman whose activities the DSS only recently determined to be on the
wrong side of the law. However, the evidence has turned out to invalidate the
narrative. First, documents that we have seen in the media, including contract
details, show clearly that the rent was paid for by the Federal Capital
Territory Administration (FCTA), the government agency that has in the past
been responsible for accommodation of political appointees based in the federal
capital.
So what is the source of
the misrepresentation? It is not clear at this point whether it was deliberate
misinformation by the DSS or the product of spin and propaganda by the hatchet
man. But for what purpose really? It is also very questionable why a two-year
rent term was first made to look as if it was rent paid for only one year,
obviously for exaggerated effect. The padding of evidence can only mean that
even the authors of the report are not very convinced about the strength of the
initial evidence and its capacity to achieve the intended “damning” purpose.
The allegation about the
private flight from Maiduguri in the company of the same “questionable”
businessman was obviously constructed to achieve the same impression as the one
about the link with the rented accommodation – guilt by association. Until Magu
himself speaks, it is premature to reach any verdict one way or the other about
the significance of this plane ride, since the DSS has not told us anything of
substance beyond describing the physical encounter between the Acting EFCC
Chairman and the owner of the private jet. However, it would be a real tragedy
of national proportions if what the DSS does by way of top security
intelligence gathering is to try to create a pattern from two disparate events
with no connection whatsoever, in order to establish guilt by association.
The allegation about the
first-class trip to Saudi Arabia would appear on the face of it to be more
clear cut, considering that it is a more straightforward matter whether the man
violated a federal government directive or not. Never mind that it is the most
flimsy ground on which to base a 'security' report. The matter even becomes
more academic if, as we have also read in the media, Magu paid for the ticket
with his own money. Why should it matter to us how Magu decides to spend his
own money, as long as he is not encroaching on any of our rights or offending
our sensibilities? Except you can show that the money was corruptly acquired.
Now the one about the
official files that were found in Magu's home during Farida Waziri's time is
the most baffling, and raises the biggest question about the real purpose of
the DSS secret memo to the Senate. Honestly, the DSS will have to clarify what
is the problem with possession of confidential files for which the officer has
been granted authorized access. In all the years that I served in the Civil
Service, I am shocked to hear that taking files home to treat is one of the
cardinal sins of the service. For those of us who did not recognize the
distinction between private time and official hours in the amount of time and
effort that we devoted to public service, the DSS report is beginning to make
me feel like the biggest transgressor of my time.
But I will say this to Magu
if he is listening: getting on the wrong side of Farida Waziri on something
like that is nothing short of a big badge of honour.
Beyond that, the DSS should
come clean with the real reasons for why the candidate is unworthy of the
position of Chairman of EFCC. Because there is nothing to suggest that what we
have been fed so far in the media is the product of any rigorous intelligence
gathering or that it even qualifies to be described as security report.
For most Nigerians who have
been on the receiving end of the scourge of corruption, the interest is simply
in having an anti- corruption agency that is strong enough to confront the
monster with all the force that we can muster. True, there is nothing that
equates an effective anti-corruption agency only with Magu at the top. But the
process of selecting the leadership of that institution should not become an
arena for executing an agenda that erodes the credibility of that institution
as well as undermines its future effectiveness.
In giving the DSS the
benefit of the doubt, it is probable that they think the EFCC position is too
serious and sensitive to allow any detail to go unnoticed. But it is precisely
for that reason that Nigerians expect a supposedly serious institution like the
DSS to treat the matter with the seriousness that it deserves and not with the
underhandedness that they have handled the Magu report. In a proper democracy,
issues relating to conflict of interest of public officials are placed in the
public domain, not surreptitiously designated as 'security report'.
In the off-chance that the
DSS has information about Magu that validly disqualifies the man from holding
that position, by all means let’s have it. The EFCC and the DSS are both
accountable to Nigerians. If they are holding on to a more serious version of
this ‘security report’ it should be declassified for the sake of the integrity
and credibility of the process – because the current version just doesn’t wash.
Contributed by Adebimpe Joseph writes from
Gwarimpa, Abuja.
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