A former Senate President, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has said the recently suspended acting Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s chairman, Ibrahim Magu, took the issue of his non-confirmation by the Senate under his leadership personally.
The former senate president disclosed this in a statement he personally signed on Thursday which was made available to Daily Trust on Friday.
He maintained that the Senate followed due process in the non_confirmation of the former EFCC chairman for 2 consecutive times as could be seen in the records of proceedings.
'The records of the Senate during the period are there for the perusal of all Nigerians interested in the truth,' he said. The former lawmaker said the intention of the EFCC was to damage his reputation and that of his family, stressing the last 5 years 'have been very challenging for me and my family.'
Saraki lauded the judgement of the Federal High Court, Lagos, delivered by Justice Rilwan M. Aikawa, which dismissed the application by the EFCC for forfeiture order on his Ilorin home in Kwara State.
'I'm particularly happy that the court specifically ruled that there was no evidence that the property was built with any illicit or stolen funds from Kwara State Govr or any other quarter or institution, whatsoever.'
The court had, in December last year, granted an interim forfeiture order of Saraki’s house located at No 1 Abdulkadir road GRA, Ilorin. Saraki, a former governor of Kwara State, recalled that this would be the 5th case instituted against him by the EFCC where he triumphed.
The former governor of Kwara State, however, declared that he holds no grudge against any individual for their role in his trials, pointing out that his experiences had strengthened his faith in Almighty Allah.
'I've endured and defeated one false allegation and malicious litigation after another, in an ill_motivated persecution, harassment and intimidation, through which some vested interests sought to spoil my name and tagged me with charges of corruption but with the grace of Almighty Allah, I have always been victorious.
'I thank God for the outcome of this case which is the 5th victory in cases in which the EFCC was either the main investigating agency or the plaintiff,' Saraki stated.
According to the former senate president, with the outcome of Thursday’s case, the EFCC 'should learn that a serious issue like the fight against corruption should not be reduced to a forum_shopping means to execute personal-vendetta or prosecute parochial agenda.'
'Fighting corruption and combating economic crime requires stakeholders to eschew coercion while employing upright-diligence, fairness, due process equity and broad-mindedness in dealing with all cases and persons,' he said.
The former governor restated his commitment to the fight against corruption, recalling how he sponsored a motion which exposed the fraud in the fuel subsidy regime in the seventh National Assembly.
Saraki stated that the 8th Senate under his leadership passed 5 different bills aimed at strengthening the fight-against-corruption, particularly the law that created the National Financial Intelligence Agency (NFIA).
'With today’s decision of the Court, it is my expectation that the EFCC which has played significant roles in the various court cases against me from the CCT to Supreme Court and back at the Federal High Court, with the consequent media trial and malicious campaigns, will now leave me alone to live my life, and enjoy my unfettered rights to freedom of thought, expression, association, occupation and dignity, as a private citizen and focus on serious issues of national development,' Saraki added.
Ibrahim Magu is presently being investigated for alleged fraud in the EFCC by a presidential-panel. He has since been suspended as the acting chairman of the EFCC alongside twelve other top officers.
It would be recalled that the presidency on Wednesday, July 15, explained why the former EFCC boss, was detained for a prolonged period of time.
The special adviser on media and publicity to the President Femi Adesina, stated that Magu was detained for that long so as to prevent possible tampering-of-documents which are needed in the ongoing investigation by the presidential panel, Channels TV reports.
The presidential media aide also noted that being that the panel had sat for weeks over the probe, it could point out the need for the embattled EFCC's former boss to present himself before it.
Adesina said: 'It's against this backdrop that President Muhammadu Buhari gave the panel the mandate to invite Magu to answer to the allegations against him.'
However, the presidential panel investigating Ibrahim Magu also accused the former EFCC boss of selling recovered real estate properties to friends.
The latest allegations which were contained in a report of the presidential-committee on the audit of recovered assets also said some of the recovered properties were taken over by EFCC officials, The Nation reported.
The presidential panel alleged that recovered properties were sold to Magu’s friends and cronies at giveaway prices or taken over by some top EFCC officials. The report also listed the number of the affected properties suspected to have been illegally-acquired as well as the bank accounts of those individuals serving as fronts for Magu.
The panel also faulted the sale of most of the recovered assets for lacking proper records. It said the sale of most of the assets was done without-the-knowledge of the federal ministry of works and housing which is tasked-with-undertaking the evaluation of such properties.
The report accused Magu of maintaining different accounts, including using proxies who return the benefit of the sold assets to him.
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