Fiery Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has flayed the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) for failing to give proper legal advise to President Muhammadu Buhari over Mr. Ibrahim Magu’s appointment as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
According to the legal luminary, the President erred in the first place in seeking senate approval for Magu as EFCC substantive chairman.
Talking to CHANNELS Sunrise Daily, Falana made it clear, with reference to relevant constitutional provisions, that the office of the EFCC Chairman was not one that required the approval of the senate under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He also said that even after President Buhari unwisely played into the hands of the Senators, their rejection of Magu does not go to annul his appointment as EFCC acting Chairman.
This apart, Mr. Falana propped up an interesting twist to the Magu saga. The learned lawyer said that the vote on Magu by the Senate was illegal since about 50 senators are under investigation by the EFCC and should have disqualified themselves according to the Code of Conduct Act.
If they had done so, then there would not even have been enough quorum to consider the presidential request for Magu’s approval.
Mr. Falana also went down memory lane and attacked Mr. Saraki, who he held responsible for the removal of two EFCC chairmen, Nuhu Ribadu and Ibrahim Lamorde over investigations of fraud against him regarding Societe-General Bank and his wife respectively.
“The senate President, Dr. Bukola Sataki ensured that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was removed when he was to be charged over the collapse of Societe Generale Bank. Lamode was removed when he invited the wife of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki. Magu could not have been confirmed because EFCC is investigating the allegation that $3.5 billion from Paris-London loan refund has been traced to his account. How could the house headed by such a man confirm Magu?” he asked.
He said there was no way the Senate would have approved Magu, with 50 senators under his lens, including the Senate president who is being investigated for over N3billion fraud.
The purport of Falana’s views is that Mr. Buhari does not only have the constitutional authority to allow Magu to continue in office as EFCC Chairman, but can legally upgrade him to substantive chairman, without legislative approval.
Recall the Presidency recently said that Buhari is seeking legal advice on the way forward with the issue of Magu.
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