Senate Majority Leader, Ali Ndume, has refuted claims that the Senate last week rejected the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Fielding questions at the Presidential Villa Monday, Senator Ndume told State House correspondents shortly after he met with President Muhammadu Buhari that security report from the Directorate of State Security (DSS) which bordered on allegations of corruption prevented the Senate from going ahead with the confirmation
The lawmaker insisted that the Senate did not reject Magu, adding that “when we slated his confirmation for that Thursday, we could not go ahead because we have a letter from the DSS that we could not ignore and which could not allow us to continue with the confirmation.”
He explained that until there are clarifications on the report of the DSS, it would be difficult for the Senate to continue with the confirmation.
However, Ndume declined to disclose when it would reconsider Magu’s confirmation. “We specifically asked the chairman media to issue a statement. What we said on that Thursday was that the Senate could not go ahead with the confirmation of Magu and that we are in possession of a letter from the Department of State Service, which requires clarification from Mr. President, who is the head of the government. That was what happened.”
When reminded that it was the Senate Spokesperson, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdulahi who said the Senate rejected Magu, Ndume responded thus, ”I’m part of the persons that wrote the short press statement which stated that the Senate cannot continue with the confirmation. It is different from saying that the Senate has rejected. In fact we have referred the other four to the committee.”
On the alleged call for the sack of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir, Ndume said it was not an order from the Senate.
According to him, “the Senate resolution is a recommendation, it’s not a law. What the Senate considered is work in progress because it was an interim report. It is the same public that is interested and worried to know what we have done as a Senate about those allegations.
“The committee issued an interim report and the interim report seemed to indict the SGF. The consequence of that indictment is what they recommended but we are not there yet because the report itself is interim.”
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