By Ismail Auwal
President Muhammadu Buhari has set up another committee to review the report of the Justice Ayo Salami-led judicial panel of enquiry’s report that recommends the sack of former EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu.
The four-man committee will probe the report, which recommended the removal of the suspended EFCC boss, over allegation of mismanagement of recovered assets.
The former EFCC boss has denied any wrongdoing and had insisted that he discharged his duties ethically as the nation’s anti-graft czar from 2015 to 2020.
The Cable reported that the, newly set up committee is made up of two representatives from the office of the chief of staff to the president and another two fro the office of the secretary to the government of the federation, TheCable learnt.
This setting-up of the panel is coming amidst allegations that Abubakar Malami — the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) who initiated the probe with a petition to Buhari — had an undue influence on the Salami panel.
He was accused of teleguiding the panel and instigating the suspension of several EFCC officials thought to be close to Magu without any queries or invitation for questioning.
Activists sympathetic to Magu have accused Malami of manipulating the process to achieve a pre-determined agenda, although the AGF’s media office has often dismissed the allegation.
Sahara Reporters reported in October that Malami had set up a committee to prepare a report indicting Magu to be adopted by the Salami committee.
Malami did not confirm or deny the report, and he was failed to honour an invitation by the Salami panel after initially promising to do so.
Salami has been going to the presidential villa to shed light on the gaps in his panel’s findings.
The conclusion of the review committee will lead to the White Paper on the probe.
Critics have been picking holes in the Salami report but the former president of the court of appeal has not openly addressed any of the issues.
He was accused of illegally ordering the detention of Magu in July, a development that created friction between him and the deputy chairman of the panel, Anthony Ogbizi Michael, a deputy inspector-general of police who was not happy that a senior police officer was treated “in such a manner”.
