Ibrahim Magu
The Department for State Security (DSS) on Monday said Magu was not arrested but merely summoned by the presidential panel over alleged corruption cases.
According to TheNation, Magu was picked up by an inter-agency panel set up by President Muhammadu Buhari at a traffic stop.
The agency failed to use the word ‘arrest’.
Recall that media reports of the arrest of acting Economic Financial and Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu went viral today.
TheNation further reported that Magu was stopped in traffic while moving out of the Wuse II Annex of the EFCC in Abuja and the invitation was extended to him.
He was said to be on his way to the Force Headquarters at the time and pleaded with an officer from FCID who met with him to honour the scheduled appointment.
But he was told the invitation by the panel was more important.
At about 1.35 pm, Magu arrived at the Villa where he was ushered into the wing, the newspaper reported.
As at Press time, Magu has been joined at the Villa by his lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo.
The panel is said to be sitting at the Banquet Hall wing of the Presidential Villa.
It is believed that he was invited by the panel to defend himself against the 22 weighty allegations submitted in a memo by Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to President Buhari sometime in June.
However, Magu is currently being grilled by the panel after a memo by Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to President Muhammadu Buhari surfaced last month alleging insubordination and corruption against him.
One of such allegations, according to the memo was that the EFCC boss disclosed a total recovery of N504 billion but lodged N543 billion in the Recovery Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The other one is that most of the recovered assets by the EFCC were allegedly sold by Magu without the knowledge of anyone.
Controversy has marked Magu’s tenure as the acting EFCC chairman following the refusal of the National Assembly to confirm his appointment as the substantive chairman of the Commission.
The National Assembly acted on a report by the DSS in which he was found guilty of “action prejudicial to state security, withholding of EFCC files, sabotage, unauthorised removal of EFCC files and acts unbecoming of a Police officer.”
Meanwhile, Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in a statement said the memo on Magu has exposed the hypocrisy, abysmal corruption, and deception that exists within the Buhari’s administration.
PDP called on the acting EFCC chairman to immediately step aside and submit himself for an independent investigation in order to clear his name.
