A vocal group of civil society leaders in the country has threatened the Senate with a nationwide mass action if it fails to confirm Ibrahim Magu as Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) chairman when it resumes after the break.
The group also advised the Presidency not to be drawn into the trap of replacing Magu as its candidate for the EFCC, in view of the successes recorded by the agency under Magu’s watch.
Addressing a world press conference in Kaduna, the group, which said it was among the pioneer civil society platforms that drove the military out of the stage in favour of democracy, stressed that the non-confirmation of Magu was “totally unacceptable”. It argued that the biggest threat to national development, apart from corruption itself, are “lawmakers in the 8th Senate” who are thwarting the efforts to put an end to the monster .
Leader of the civil society group, popularly known as Alternative to Corruption and Misgovernance, Mr. Steve Aluko-Daniel, who is its national coordinator, while speaking at the event in Kaduna, admonished Magu not to be distracted by the deliberate games of confirmation and proceed with the present administration’s mission of killing corruption before it kills Nigeria.
The group also noted that corruption has been fighting back on so many fronts recently, including the veiled attempt to frustrate the confirmation of Magu by the 8th Senate.
The Alternative to Corruption and Misgovernance group’s national coordinator then observed that “We call on the executive arm of government to give all the necessary support to Ibrahim Magu to fight corruption and corrupt practices to a logical end. The executive arm must not allow itself to be derailed, or succumb to misguided criticism, cheap blackmail and political hara-kiri by corrupt elements and institutions.”
“We call on Ibrahim Magu to remain steadfastly focused, committed and resolute in his commitment to the fight against corruption and never in any way be distracted by the issue of confirmation.”
“We call on the presidency never to allow itself to be swayed into the erroneous suggestions of replacing Ibrahim Magu as the chief executive of EFCC. If the presidency allows itself to be blackmailed by any individual, groups or institutions, it will readily compromise the fight against corruption and bad governance. It will readily undermine the administration’s trust of fighting corruption in Nigeria with attendant negative consequence.”
leadership.