Following the two-time rejection of Ibrahim Magu by the Senate as
substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, President Muhammadu Buhari is considering whether to forward his
name again to the Senate or appoint a fresh nominee for the position.
It
was learnt that the two options would be based on the legal advice from
the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who is a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria, SAN, and the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Mr.
Abubakar Malami, SAN.
Buhari, who is said to have received the
Senate report on the screening and rejection of Magu as chairman of the
EFCC, is studying the report and is also forwarding it to his deputy and
the AGF.
“I can tell you that the president has received the
resolution on the matter of Magu and has forwarded the matter to the
vice-president, who as you know, is a senior lawyer and also to the
attorney general for advice,” presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba
Shehu, was quoted as saying.
He said the president would follow
the two options open to him to either nominate him again or send another
name, based on his consideration of the advice received from the duo of
Osinbajo and Malami.
The senior special assistant to the
president on media and publicity pointed out that his principal would
not act until he received the appropriate advice from the Vice-President
and the AGF.
Meanwhile,
the report also stated that senators, angered over the continued
retention of Magu as acting chairman of the EFCC, are set to erode the
president’s power to appoint persons to act endlessly in positions
requiring Senate confirmation.
The proposal, which enjoys the
bipartisan support of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, members, is said to have proposed six months, but
is likely to be cut down to three months at the end of Senate
consideration.
A ranking senator was quoted by the newspaper as
saying: “There is claim that the interpretation act has given the
president the right to appoint someone in acting position for offices
that he is constitutionally empowered to make appointments.
“But
our dispute is, for how long can such persons act and should such
persons continue to act even when they have been rejected by the Senate.
“We
have now resolved on how to move the issue forward and it would be
through a bill to limit the duration that persons who act in such
positions can stay in acting capacity,” the senior lawmaker said.
The
proposal, said to be coming before the upper legislative chamber in the
coming days, is expected to get expedited passage through the Senate on
account of its endorsement by the Senate leadership.
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