The debate on the second rejection and re-nomination of the Acting
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim
Magu for confirmation by the National Assembly is not over yet.
Vice
President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Monday Ubani, yesterday
said President Muhammadu Buhari cannot re-nominate Magu to the Senate
based on the internal rules of the National Assembly regarding such
issues.
He said if that was the case, then there could be a
problem, adding that he may not know what is on President Buhari’s mind
as Magu had been rejected for the second time by the Senate.
He
also said the law permits the president to re-nominate a candidate for
confirmation by the Senate, but doubt if this would work out since there
are internal rules in the Senate that may play a vital role in making
his re-nomination for the third time possible.
“Under the law, the
president can re-nominate Magu, but going by what Senator Dino Melaye
said, there are internal rules in the Senate that specify how many times
a candidate can be re-nominated for confirmation,” he said.
He
added that there are two options for the president. Either he exploits
the lacuna in law that provides for perpetually retaining the EFCC boss
in acting capacity or he nominates another person for the job.
Another
lawyer, Charles Lambo pointed out that the presidency’s insistence on
Magu was an illegality and a breach of trust between the executive and
the legislature.
“This is because section 171 of the constitution
gives the president powers to appoint certain officers, which are
subject to confirmation of the Senate without which they act in nullity
and the EFCC Act also confirmed that the position of Chairman must be
confirmed by the Senate,” he added.
He further explained that for
Magu to remain in acting capacity after the Senate has rejected him
twice was an illegality and advised the presidency to obey the Senate
resolution on the matter.
Unlike Ubani who argued that the
presidency can exploit the lacuna in the law, Lambo believes it cannot
be possible, even as he made referred to Professor Itse Sagay statement
that Magu can continue in Acting capacity indefinitely.
“But this is democracy and cannot be possible under the constitution,” he stressed.
No comments:
Post a Comment